Life with the Suzumiyas
by JonBob0008
Summary: The long awaited sequel to the incredibly popular Meet the Suzumiyas. Things take a turn for the worst for Kyon and everyone else when a new evil is born on a day very special to Haruhi.
1. Chapter 1

**If you'd asked me a year ago if I was going to write a sequel to this fic, I wouldn't have been able to give you an answer. By then, I was reaching my peak in terms of creativity, and I knew I was going to need to recharge my batteries. Since I have now done so, I'm ready to push on and give the long awaited sequel to the incredibly popular fanfic, _Meet the Suzumiyas_! If you haven't read that fic yet, please go read it now.**

**I desperately want this fic to be superior to the last, largely because I've realized that the first one was a lot more flawed than most people said it was. While there was a lot there that I think I did right, there were also bits that could have been improved. The biggest flaw in the last fic was the prose, as it was rather sloppy in places, especially in the beginning. My goal is to improve the prose while keeping everything else that everyone loved from the last fic. Let's hope I succeed.**

**Without further delay, I give you the sequel!**

* * *

_**Life with the Suzumiyas**_

It's warm...and comfy. It feels so good. There are few things in life that are more satisfying than sleeping in a nice, comfortable bed. Sometimes I feel like I could stay like this forever. Unfortunately, I knew that this would end. I was tempted to check my clock, but that would involve opening my eyes. I wanted to keep them closed for a long as possible.

I heard my door open, followed by the sound of approaching foot steps. Oh, no. Already? Can't you give me five more minutes? I'll do anything.

The next thing I felt was someone climbing onto my bed. I then felt this person lay right next to me. Her breath tickled my ear as she spoke. "Good morning."

I was surprised by the gentleness of this greeting. In the past, she would wake me up in the most violent manner possible. Today seemed different. What could she be planning?

"I just wanted to snuggle with you for a few minutes before my parents wake up."

Snuggle? Right now? Man, that's sounds awesome! Now if only I could respond...

"Not getting up? Never mind. No snuggling for you."

"Mmm...I'm up..." I said with all my willpower. There are no way I was missing out on an early morning snuggle.

I felt her warm, soft body move in close to mine. It felt so good that I began to wonder if we were made to fit like this. I felt her nose brush gently against mine. "Open your eyes dummy."

Okay, fine. You win. I complied with her wish and slowly opened my eyes. Before me was the most beautiful creature I've ever had to luxury to wake up with...then again, who else have I ever woken up with?

"Idiot. What are you mumbling about?"

Before my eyes was my girlfriend, Haruhi Suzumiya. Damn it felt good to call her that. "Good morning."

"There we go," she said as she moved in to give me a gentle kiss.

"I think this is my favorite method of waking me up."

"Mine too," said Haruhi with a giggle. We held each other tightly for a few minutes, enjoying the sensation until she looked at the clock and frowned. "I have to get up."

No. Stay right here. You're not going anywhere.

"Dummy. My parents are going to wake up any minute."

Don't care! I'm not afraid of them. Holding you for a few more minutes is totally worth whatever horrors await when your father catches us doing this. Hell, let's skip school and do this all day.

Although I could tell that she liked my idea, she resisted. "No. I have to get washed up." She pinched my cheek as she climbed off the bed. "You better be up when I'm done."

Boooo! You suck! Just for that I'm going back to sleep.

"You better not, or you'll get a penalty."

"What kind of penalty?" I asked with a grin.

"Not the kind you're thinking of. Pervert." She then walked out of my room.

Despite my desire to go back to sleep, I was unable to. I sat up and gave a large yawn before rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I so wasn't in the mood to go to class. School was going to be a pain these next few weeks since tests were right around the corner.

It was July 6th, and I could tell that it was going to be an incredibly hot and beautiful day. I opened my window and took a deep breath of fresh air. Next, I picked out some socks and underwear along with my usual school clothes. I was sure to note that it was definitely time to do my laundry today. Great, I love having more crap to do after school. No doubt that bastard was already going to have me busy with some stupid chore today.

After Haruhi finished washing up (I was able to sneak a quick peek at her in only a towel), I took my turn to wash up. Once done, I got dressed and made my way down to the kitchen for some breakfast. I was greeted by Haruhi's parents, Oruki and Naru-san.

"Good morning, Kyon-kun!" said Naru-san with a sweetness that rivaled the richest honey. "Breakfast will be done soon."

"Good morning," said Oruki with about as much enthusiasm as a slug. Good morning to you too, sir.

Haruhi had already beaten me to the table and was impatiently waiting for her food. "Come on, mom! We're going to be late!"

"Don't be rude to your mother!" said Oruki. "You should be happy as it is that you're even getting a breakfast. It's more than what I got when I was your age."

Ah, the sounds of a typical, Suzumiya household morning. It's hard to believe that I've grown to find this normal. I rested my head on my hand as I listened to Naru-san hum the opening theme to a legendarily popular mecha anime from the mid-nineties. Yup, life was good. Other than a few minor complaints, I really couldn't imagine how my life could get much better.

After Haruhi and I finished our breakfast, we walked out the door towards school. Walking there was especially enjoyable now that Haruhi and I held hands. The warm softness was enough to sooth my soul. Being with her like this was enough to make wonder why I didn't decide to start dating her sooner. Damn I was an idiot!

I noticed someone walk up next to us. Turning my head, I realized it was Kunikida.

"Good morning you two," he said pleasantly. "Great to see you two in positive spirits."

"Good to see you, too," I said. Of the two guys I occasionally ran into on my way to school, Kunikida was definitely the less annoying one. He was never much of a conversationalist, but that's part of why I liked being friends with him. He wasn't intrusive, and he was a good listener. Wish I could say the same about Taniguchi.

"Does your club have any big plans coming up?"

"You'll see," said Haruhi. "I have a whole bunch of things planned for the whole Brigade this month!"

"Like what?" I said, feeling left out. You never discussed all of this with me.

"It's more fun when I leave you in the dark," said Haruhi with a wink. "The last time I gave you a sneak preview of my plans, it took all the fun away when I revealed them to the others." She must have been referring to the time when she first revealed her plans to go to Kyoto a couple months back.

"Well, if I'm not busy during summer break," said Kunikida, "don't be afraid to ask for help."

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll find something for you and your buddy to do." I love how she expects both Kunikida and Taniguchi to come running to help her at a moments notice.

I sighed as our school came into sight. I figured that whatever craziness Haruhi was planning was going to be par for the course for the SOS Brigade. After all, we've gone through plenty of hairy times already. I was sure that I was ready for anything that could be thrown at me.

I couldn't possibly be wrong, right?

* * *

Classes were as uneventful as ever, and everyone was gathered in the clubroom. Koizumi and I were trying a children's card game that he recently picked up, Asahina-san was cutely brewing her latest batch of tea, and Nagato was sitting in the corner reading a copy of One Thousand and One Nights in what appeared to be Arabic. When I looked at Haruhi, I noticed that she appeared frustrated. After five minutes, I found out why.

"This computer has become way too slow! What's wrong with it?"

"Have you been updating your anti-virus software or defragmenting the hard drive?" I said.

"Of course I have, but it's still too slow."

"It's possible that the hardware in the computer is wearing out," said Koizumi. "Like all machines, computer performance degrades overtime."

Haruhi shot up onto her feet. "That's it! We're upgrading!"

Upgrading? What do you mean by that?

"We're going to replace this computer with a better one!" said Haruhi with a little too much enthusiasm.

How are you planning to...oh, don't tell me. Haven't you tormented those guys enough?

"Come on, everyone! We're going to the computer club's room!" She then marched triumphantly out the door with the rest of us in tow. I placed a hand on my face, feeling bad for our latest victims.

Seconds later, Haruhi burst through their clubroom door, her infectious energy flooding the room. "Good afternoon gentlemen!"

The Computer club president immediately hung his head in exasperation the moment she entered. "What do you want? Please tell me you're not here to make our lives miserable?"

Haruhi scowled at his response. "What makes you think that I'm going to do that?"

Probably the fact that every time you come here, you force them to do something against their will.

"Look, just tell us what you want," said the president.

Haruhi pointed to the computer the president was working on. It was obviously a much newer model than the other computers in the room. "We need your latest computer!" she said, smiling like a kitsune.

"Forget it! You've taken enough hardware from us! We need this computer for our latest project!"

I wonder if they're working on a sequel to that video game we played against them.

Haruhi appear undeterred by his words. "Are you sure? If you don't, there's a chance that a certain set of incriminating photographs might suddenly show up in the hands of the school officials."

You still have those photos? Are you going to hang those photos over this poor guy's head for the rest of his life?

Surprisingly, the president smiled smugly back. "Go ahead and do it! I'm not afraid of you! It'll be our word against yours, and you don't have a single bit of creditability anymore! All of the school officials know about your reputation!"

He's right. Given Haruhi's antics over the last year, it would be next to impossible to get any school official to take what she has to say seriously. I had to admit that even through she was my girlfriend now, seeing her put in her place was kinda nice. She's made these guys suffer enough.

Realizing that she no longer had the leverage she once had, Haruhi started thinking about a different strategy. "How about a trade instead? I'll give back the other computer for that one!"

"Are you kidding me? You can keep that outdated piece of junk. She doesn't hold a candle to this baby." He then patted the computer tower.

"Well, what would you trade for that?"

"If you think you can swindle me into giving up our computer, you're sadly mistaken. You don't have anything that I'd want!"

"You tell him!" said one of the other computer club members.

I could see some frustration building up on her face as she continued to think. Suddenly, I saw a flash of insight on her face as she grinned. "Are you sure? I can think of something you might want."

The president raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

She then leaned towards him uncomfortably close, enough to mildly piss me off. "How about a date with one of my members?"

Almost everyone in the room was floored when she said that. "Wh...what?" stammered the president.

"That's right! I'm giving you the opportunity to pick any member of the SOS Brigade to go out with on a date...except for him." She pointed at me when she said that.

This is crazy! You can't just make anyone in the Brigade go out on a date with someone without their permission. Also, did you just say that Koizumi is in the running? I don't think either of them swings that way. And finally, why didn't you make an exception for yourself? As unlikely as it is, if he picks you, I'm going to kick his ass!

The president appeared flustered for a few seconds before recovering. "One date? I hardly consider that a fair trade!"

"Five dates!" said Haruhi. "How does that sound?"

He paused a bit, looking undecided.

"Don't do it!" said another computer club member. "It's not worth it!"

"Come on," said Haruhi as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, pissing me off even more. "Think of this as an investment in your future happiness! Maybe you two will really hit it off and be happily in love!" If I wasn't so annoyed, I might have remarked on how good a salesperson she could be.

After mulling it over in his head for a minute, the president finally went with the deal. "Fine then. I accept."

"Alright!" cheered Haruhi. "Who's it going to be then? Is it Mikuru-chan?"

"No!" reacted the president. "That would be way too awkward after what had happened." I spotted his eyes move up towards Nagato. He nervously scratched the back of his neck. "I...I'd like to go out with Nagato-san..."

"Deal!" said Haruhi with great satisfaction.

"Hold it," I said, grabbing Haruhi's shoulder. "Don't you think you should ask Nagato if this is okay?"

Haruhi narrowed her eyes a bit before relenting and looking at Nagato. "Are you okay with this? If you're not, that's fine. I'm sure we can figure something else out."

Nagato looked up from her book and at the president. After a brief pause, she answered. "I accept."

I was taken aback by her answer. Did she really want to go through with this, or was she only doing this because Haruhi wanted her to? I looked at the computer club president, who appeared almost joyful at her answer. Did he develop a crush on her over the last six months? It was common for Nagato to spend time in the computer club whenever she wanted to, so it was definitely possible.

With the deal made, the president asked that he be given the chance to remove some important files from the computer before reformatting it. After doing that, I was forced to bring the computer into the clubroom and set it up. When I finished, Haruhi happily gave it a test spin. Before long, it was time for all of us to go home.

Unfortunately, Haruhi forced me to stay behind for a task. "I need your help bringing the old computer home."

You're taking that computer with us? Doesn't it technically count as school property?

"Well, since it's belonged to the Brigade for this long, I figured it was okay for me to take it home."

What makes you think that's okay? The computer was originally paid for with school funds. If you take it home, it's considered stealing.

"Look, I was hoping to give this computer to my parents as a gift. Are you saying that it's wrong to do something for them?"

Great, now you're trying to make me feel bad. "Why do you feel the need to give them the old computer?"

"Are you kidding? You've seen them! The two of them are still stuck in the nineties! It's time for them to move into the twenty-first century!"

She does have a point. I'm not even sure they know how to use a computer.

"Besides," she said, "I could use it for Brigade related activities during the summer."

"What about the computer in your room?"

"That piece of junk isn't capable of doing some of the things I need this computer for." She then went and grabbed the box for the heater. "Look, if you're so worried about us getting into trouble, we can just put the tower in here. No one will ever suspect a thing." She then picked up and placed the tower inside the box, which just barely fit inside. "There, perfect!"

I sighed deeply and gave up. It wasn't worth fighting over this. Even though _technically_ she was violating school rules, since she wanted to do something nice for her parents, I decided to let it slide. Haruhi then grabbed a large bag and placed the monitor and necessary cords in there.

I was forced to carry the tower all the way back home while Haruhi carried the rest. Truthfully, I was still upset with the deal Haruhi made with the computer club president. I guess you could say that I was protective of all the girls in the Brigade, and I definitely didn't think he was good enough for Nagato. I swear, if he puts his hands on her I'll...I better stop. I'm starting to sound like someone I really, really don't like. Besides, if there was anyone who didn't need my protection, it was Nagato. I just hoped that she was really okay with this.

When we finally returned, Haruhi announced her gift excitedly to her parents. Naru-san was ecstatic to discover that her daughter had done something so nice for them. Oruki, on the other hand, was very suspicious.

"How did she get her hands on a free computer?" he asked, looking quite concerned.

I scratched the back of my head. "She...made a few deals with the computer club at our school."

"What kind of deals?"

I reluctantly told him the truth (or part of it at least). "Haruhi obtained a newer computer with the computer club president in exchange for five dates with Nagato."

"That's...that silent one, right?" After I nodded, Oruki shrugged. "Whatever floats his boat. So why is this one here? Isn't it school property?"

Haruhi overheard this question and immediately answered it. "It was an old one that the school was going to get rid of anyway. I decided to take it off their hands a year ago and was using it in our clubroom until now."

You can't seriously believe that your father will fall for that. I know he's not computer savvy, but even he should be able to tell that's a lie.

After eying the computer for a minute, he eventually dropped the subject. "Forget it." I guess he wasn't in the mood to fight with his daughter over this.

After some more cheers from Haruhi and Naru-san, I was forced to set the computer up in an open spot in the living room. Haruhi was able to convince Oruki to use one of the tables he'd recently finished as a computer table. After everything was done, the Suzumiya household had their very own family computer. Even though this was a gift meant for Oruki and Naru-san, I knew having it here would come in handy for me as well. There was no way I was ever going to make the mistake of using Haruhi's computer ever again (she changed her password, by the way).

After I was finished, Oruki called for my attention. "It's time for you to mow the lawn."

I sighed and hung my head. "Okay."

"Oh, and we're out of gas for the one mower, so you'll have to use the other one instead."

You've got to be kidding me. How could you forget to get gas for it?

Oruki scowled at me. "It's none of your business why it doesn't have gas! Just go out there and get it done!"

I followed his orders and grabbed the push mower. I couldn't help but notice a small amount of anxiety in his voice when I brought up the gas. Did he not have the money to get any this week? Whatever, I'm sure he just forgot.

* * *

The rest of the day went by fairly normally. Once I finished my chores and homework, Naru-san had dinner ready for us. Wednesday nights used to be Hispanic night, but lately things have changed. Instead, we've been having typical Japanese cuisine every night for the past couple weeks. Naru-san gave the excuse that it was becoming too much of a chore finding new recipes for the various different days. When I brought up that the computer would give her access to all the recipes she would ever need, she thanked me but still appeared apprehensive.

Once dinner was over, I noticed Naru-san trying out the computer while Oruki watched television instead. I spent the rest of the night giving pointers to Naru-san on how to use the computer. I even showed her a couple websites that I thought she might like, mostly discussing various supernatural phenomenon. She appeared to really take a shine to the computer, and I figured that this would be a great way to cure some of her boredom. After I was satisfied that she could handle things on her own, I went upstairs, sneaked a quick kiss from Haruhi, and went to bed.

Over all, it was a relatively satisfying day. Sure, there was that stuff that happened in the computer clubroom, but that was nothing to be too upset over. Compared to some of the stuff I've had to deal with, that was nothing. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep, expecting tomorrow to be another relatively normal day.

Little did I know that the next two months would end up being among the most trying times in my life, possibly worse than those five weeks of hell not that long ago. It would all start as a result of what would happen the very next day...

* * *

**I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I wanted to build things up for a bit. In any case, I hope you all enjoyed it. It shouldn't be long before I update.**


	2. Chapter 2

**God damn, it's been way too long since I updated. And after all I said about how excited I was to work on this fic, too. Well, to be honest, I wasn't spending much time on my computer during the winter as it was too cold in my computer room, and so I got out of the habit of writing on the fic. Once out of the habit, it was hard to get back into it.**

**In the mean time, I did some work on a novel. I posted the first chapter of it on Fiction Press, the sister site of . Here's the link: ****.com/s/2907892/1/The_bLast_b_bHalfway_b**

**I hope you guys check it out and tell me what you think.**

**Anyway, I feel that this chapter is better than the first one. I hope you all agree.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

I recently read about how it's possible to train yourself to lucid dream whenever you want. For those of you who don't know, lucid dreaming occurs when your conscious brain activates while you're dreaming. This makes it so that you become able to control anything that happens in your dream. You can literally do anything within the confines of your brain, whether it be slaying dragons, flying without wings, or blowing up the moon during the World Martial Arts Tournament. Apparently, if you train yourself correctly, you can enter this state of dreaming at will and stay that way.

I must have been doing something wrong, because I have yet to succeed.

Before I could try again at achieving that brain state, I felt 40 kilos of pure force land right on my back. The weight stayed on my back for a full minute before I woke up enough to figure out what it was. I decided not to complain when I did.

Haruhi was laying on me with her arms around my mid-section. She would occasionally rub her cheek against my upper back, and I had to admit that it felt really nice. I finally woke up enough to greet her. "Good morning."

"Good morning, sleepy head," she said before kissing me on the cheek. "You better get up soon. We have a lot to do today."

"Like what?" I said.

"Dummy, have you forgotten already?" She got off of me and sat at the edge of my bed, arms crossed. "No more snuggles until you figure it out."

"What's the date?" I said, rolling onto my back.

"Not telling. It's your responsibility as a Brigade member and as my boyfriend to keep track of every important date of the year." She then pokes my nose with her finger. "They should all be committed to memory."

Sorry for not being on top of these things this early in the morning. I suppose you'd expect me to do calculus in my head while I'm like this too, right? Is that a Brigade responsibility I don't know about?

Haruhi grunted cutely before getting up to leave my room. "You better remember by the time we leave for school. Being my boyfriend does not give you immunity to penalties. If anything, the penalties should be harsher. "

"That's good to know," I said before yawning. Penalties are always fun.

After she was gone, I stretched for a few seconds before sitting up. What was today supposed to be? If I think about what day yesterday was, I think it was...the 6th? Yeah, then that would make it the 7th...oh no.

Today was Tanabata.

Memories of going back in time and helping a preteen Haruhi draw weird symbols on the East Junior High athletic field rushed back to me. That day was the major catalyst for everything that has happened in my life in the last year or so. Last year, Haruhi kept things relatively simple by bringing in some bamboo and having us tie wishes to it so that Orihime and Hikoboshi could grant them in 16 and 25 years from now. I was relieved that she didn't have us do anything more outrageous than that, and I had hoped that it wouldn't be much worse this year. However, the way she spoke today made me think that perhaps she had much bigger plans than the last time. I just hope we don't get ourselves into too much trouble. Oruki will kill me if we do.

After washing up and getting dressed, I went downstairs and into the kitchen to greet everyone. "Good morning."

"Good morning," said Naru-san while finishing up our breakfast.

"Morning," said Oruki, looking only briefly in my direction before looking back at his paper.

I looked at Haruhi, who was in extremely high spirits. This was usually a bad thing. I normally preferred her at ordinary levels of happiness. Extreme levels usually meant trouble.

"Have you remembered yet?" said Haruhi.

I smiled before answering. "Yep."

Oruki looked at us suspiciously. "Remember what?"

Haruhi frowned at her father. "Don't tell me you've forgotten, too!"

"How could you forget, Oruki-kun?" said Naru-san while giving each of us our breakfast.

Confused, Oruki then looked at the front of his newspaper. When he saw it, his eyes widened in what appeared to be pure horror. "Oh no..."

It was at that moment that Haruhi and Naru-san screamed in near perfect unison. "Tanabata!" It was no surprise that Naru-san was equally excited by the holiday. They both looked like it was their 5th birthday.

Oruki suddenly stood up. "Kyon-kun. I need to speak to you downstairs."

"Don't be long," said Naru-san. "Your breakfast will get cold."

I sighed before following Oruki into the basement. Whenever there appeared to be a potential crisis, Oruki would always bring me downstairs in order to talk to me without his daughter overhearing us.

Once down there, Oruki took a deep breath while placing a hand on his face. "Please tell me my daughter isn't up to anything today."

"Oh, she's definitely up to something," I said. I just don't know what it is, yet.

"Can you please make sure she doesn't go overboard? It's going to be hard enough to keep my wife in line."

"Why is that?"

"Most days, I can keep a pretty short leash on her, but whenever these holidays come about, it's everything I can do just to keep her out of jail. The last thing I need is to also have my daughter in trouble." No doubt he still remembered the time when she was responsible for creating that weird message in the athletic field of her junior high school. I better be careful not to tell him that I was actually responsible. He would kill me.

"I'll see what I can do," I said. "She was pretty tame last year. Maybe it won't be so bad this time, either." I wouldn't bet on it, though.

Satisfied with our discussion, Oruki and I walked back up to the kitchen. I shoveled my breakfast as fast as I could before Haruhi and I left for school.

"What did my father talk to you about?" asked Haruhi.

"He just wanted me to make sure that you stayed out of trouble."

"Of course he would," she said with a frown. "I'm not a child. I don't need to be supervised with every little thing."

I disagree completely. As much as I hate saying so, you're about the least mature teenage girl I know. If there is anyone that still needs supervision, it's you.

"He doesn't have to worry, anyway," said Haruhi. "I'm not planning on getting in trouble _today_." She winked at me before picking up the pace a bit.

The way she said the word "today" made me really worried. What the heck did she mean by that?

Neither of us said much else as we made our way towards our school until it came within sight. Haruhi stopped me as we came close and looked around. "Hold on. We need to grab something before we go to class."

"What's that? Was it something back home?" It would be impossible to go back without being late.

"Nope," she said as she started entering a nearby forest.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I said as I followed her in.

"We need a new bamboo plant to tie our tanzaku to."

"Why do we need to worry about that now? Can't we get it after class is over?" I'd rather wait until then to be arrested for trespassing on private property.

"We might as well take care of this now," said Haruhi as she looked around for a suitable plant. It didn't take long before she spotted one. "That one is perfect!"

I eyed the bamboo plant she was pointing at. It was much larger than the one she took last year. "Why this one?"

"The SOS Brigade must step up our celebrations every year. As such, the bamboo plant we use must be bigger than the last one."

"This one will never fit in our clubroom."

"It's fine. We're leaning it out the window like last year, so it doesn't matter." She then pointed at me. "Break the top half off. We don't want to kill it if we don't have to."

Wouldn't the top half die, though? Never mind. I reluctantly followed the commands of my girlfriend and attempted to break the plant in half. It was much harder than I had anticipated, and I had to bend it around a lot before I could rip it off. After that, Haruhi and I carried the top half all the way to the school. I had no idea how we were going to be able to get this thing in our clubroom without being stopped by a school official, and my concerns deepened when Haruhi told me to take care of it while she put her school shoes on and went to class. I swear if I'm the one who gets in trouble for dragging this thing around, I'm so breaking up with her.

By some miracle, I was able to sneak it into the clubroom without anyone noticing (other than the occasional student). When I put it in there, I found that it was too tall to stand up, so I had to lean it at an angle. I frowned when I realized that its branches took up way too much room. What a pain.

Testing had begun today, so I was less than excited to go to class. Fortunately, my time spent living with Haruhi had been useful since she was more than willing to go over anything in class I didn't understand. If anything, I should do better on my tests than I did last year, but I wasn't going to hold my breath. I just hoped that Haruhi didn't fall asleep halfway through class after she finished. Her snoring is so distracting.

After surviving our testing, Haruhi and I made our way to the clubroom. As usual, the other three had made it there before us. I was quick to note that Nagato's usual seating location was taken up by the bamboo plant, so she moved he seat ever so slightly away from the window.

"Good afternoon you two," said Koizumi. "I suppose it's safe to assume that we're celebrating Tanabata much the same way as last year."

"Correct as usual, Koizumi-kun, with one minor correction," said Haruhi as she pulled out the different colored tanzaku from her school bag. "We'll be writing down our wishes, however I'm also planning something special later tonight."

"What is that?" asked Asahina-san as she began preparing out tea.

Haruhi winked at her. "You'll see. Anyway, we're fortunate that Orihime and Hikoboshi are generous enough to grant one wish each to all those who ask once a year. If there were any wishes that you were unable to ask for last year, now is a great time to wish for them. Just remember that it'll still take 16 and 25 years for each respective wish to be granted."

It was hard enough coming up with wishes last year that were relevant to whatever I was going to be doing 16 and 25 years from now. I had no idea what I wanted to wish for this year. Nevertheless, I decided not to fight with Haruhi's bizarre logic regarding the holiday. It was a harmless activity for all of us to do together, and I was a little curious as to what everyone would wish for.

After being served a dose of Asahina-san's delicious tea, we went about the task of writing down our wishes for this year. I struggled with coming up with my wishes for a short while, instead watching everyone else write their own. Nagato and Koizumi didn't appear to struggle at all, while Asahina-san appeared as troubled as I was. When I looked at Haruhi, I saw her excited, million-watt smile as she finished writing her wishes in record time. I felt a warmth around my face as I watched her look at her tanzaku with satisfaction. She's so beautiful when she like that. It was then that I felt the inspiration I needed to come up with my wishes.

After a minute, I heard a light chuckle next to me. "I must admit that those are some admirable wishes," Koizumi whispered.

Hey, no peeking! These wishes are private until I give permission to view them!

"I apologize," he said, chuckling a bit more. "I just find it amusing how much you've changed since we were here a year ago. I'd go as far as saying that you have a bit of a glow about to you. It's quite refreshing to see."

Don't make me hit you. Using a term like "glow" like that when talking about me is a bit irksome.

"I just wish my wishes were as inspired as yours," said Koizumi as he looked at his tanzaku. I noticed that his expression softened ever so slightly, perhaps feeling a small amount of regret or envy.

"Is everyone done?" asked Haruhi as she stood up.

I held up my tanzaku, confirming that I'd finished. Everyone else had also completed their respective wishes as well. We all gathered around the bamboo shoot and tied on our tanzaku to different branches. When we were finished, I decided to look at everyone's' wishes.

Koizumi had written for the end of world hunger and for us to perfect nuclear fusion. He's right when he said that his wishes were rather uninspired.

Nagato simply wrote "Wisdom" and "Freedom" as her wishes. I couldn't help but feel that the tone of her wishes were very different from last years. I somehow doubted that she would wish for either of those things a year ago.

Asahina-san wishes were cutely scribbled on the tanzaku.

_I wish for success in my future career._

_I wish to become more assertive. _

Her wishes were very different from the ones she made last year, and it made me wonder if she's been thinking about her own future lately. Now that I think about it, is she even going to be in this time plane a year from now? She's supposed to graduate at the end of next March, so it made sense that she might go back to her own time then. The thought of going my whole senior year without her wonderful tea...never mind. It's too depressing to think about.

Finally, I looked at Haruhi's wishes, expecting something bizarre. She didn't disappoint.

_I wish the Earth would be the center of the universe._

_I wish all the constellations would change._

Haruhi was quick to explain her wishes. "I was disappointed when I discovered that the Earth is nowhere near the center of the universe. I'm hoping my wish would fix that. I also felt that it was time for us to have some new constellations. We've had the same ones for centuries, so it's gotten really boring. How cool would it be to have the stars rearrange their positions so we can have some new constellations to name?"

There were numerous problems with her wishes, including the fact that they were redundant (wouldn't moving the earth to the center of the universe already change the constellations?). I also realized that her first wishes from this year and last year would logically put Haruhi at the center of the universe. I shook my head a bit and sighed. Typical Haruhi...

After seeing my mild exasperation, Haruhi narrowed her eyes at me before leaning towards where my tanzaku were hung. "Let's see how good your wishes are then."

I felt mildly bashful as I watched her read my wishes.

_I wish to be happily married to my true love._

_I wish to have three children, two boys and one girl._

Haruhi blinked a bit after reading them before giving a bright smile.

"Do my wishes suck as much as the ones I made last year?" I asked.

"No," said Haruhi, "I like them." She then turned towards me and grabbed me by my tie. "By the way, who exactly are you referring to when you said 'true love'?"

"Well, it was a little embarrassing to mention names, but it's probably who you think it is."

"It better be," she said as she leaned in towards me indicating that she wanted to kiss. I was reluctant at first, seeing as there were others in the room, but I gave in to my desires. I think I'm being corrupted.

To be honest, I hadn't thought about marrying Haruhi until now. Perhaps it seemed too far into the future to worry about it, but since I was wishing for something 16 years from now, it made sense that I should be married by then. Who else would I want to be with? Sure, it would have to wait until at least college was done, but my mind was made up. For those of you would think I'm getting ahead of myself, screw you! I can wish for whatever I want!

"Okay, I'll admit it," said Haruhi. "You're wishes are better than mine this year." She touched her nose onto my nose, looking deeply into my eyes. "I won't lose to you next year."

"You're on," I said as we kissed again, a bit more passionately this time. I hope I'm not making the others feel too awkward.

The remainder of the time spent in the clubroom was spent doing pretty much nothing. I was glad to notice that Haruhi wasn't melancholy at all, unlike that time the year before. Eventually it was time to go, and we got up to leave. Before we could, however, Haruhi made an announcement.

"I want every one of you to come back here at eight o'clock sharp!"

"Why? What are we doing?" I asked.

"You'll see," she said as she literally bounded out of the room with energy rivaling the sun.

I swallowed hard, now completely sure that her plans had trouble written all over them. I'm so dead. Perhaps it's not too late to write my will when I get home. I hereby give all my possessions to my little sister. It's not much, but maybe you'll make good use of them.

When Haruhi and I returned home, I immediately went to my room to change out of my school clothes. When I came out of my room, I was surprised to find that the ladder to the attic was down. I looked up the entrance with curiosity when I found Naru-san coming down with a box in hand.

"What do you have there?" I asked.

Naru-san was mildly startled when she heard my voice. Her expression quickly changed to relief when she realized it was me. "There you are. I need a favor from you."

"Sure, what do you need?" I asked. I was always more than willing to help her out with anything she needed.

She handed me the box that she brought down from the attic. "Can you take this box to the garage?"

"Sure," I said, wondering what was inside. "Is there a reason you want me to do that?"

Naru-san looked somewhat nervously back and forth before whispering. "If I bring this down to the garage, Oruki-kun will know I'm up to something for sure. If you bring it down, though, it should be fine."

Now I was starting to worry. "What's inside the box?"

"Just some fireworks," said Naru-san sweetly.

Just some fireworks? What are you up to? Please tell me your not planning on damaging anyone's property with these?

Naru-san waved her hand to try to alleviate my fears. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

I seriously, seriously doubt that. "What happens if Oruki-san asks me about the box?"

"Just tell him that you're saving them for a celebration during summer break. That should work."

No, I doubt that would work. Not only that, but once he does find out that I'd lied to him, he'll beat the crap out of me. It was then that I had another idea. "I'm taking these to the garbage."

Naru-san appeared upset. "What? But why? You're not going to help me?" Her look of betrayal was way too cute.

"I didn't say that. It would just be more believable if I left the box there for you to get later." That and it would give me plausible deniability.

Before I could say anything else, Haruhi exited her room and spotted us talking. "What are you two up to?"

I smiled at her and held up the box a bit. "Just doing a favor for your mother." I then turned around and went downstairs. I figured I'd tell Haruhi about what was in the box later, after we were on our way to the school.

Just as I came up to the door, Oruki spotted me. "Hey, what's up with the box?"

Hope my acting skills hold up. "Oh, your wife asked me to take this to the garbage." I think that was good enough.

Oruki narrowed his eyes briefly before turning back to the TV. Dammit, why can't he be clueless like a lot of parents in anime are?

After I dropped the box off outside, Haruhi and I spent a couple hours reviewing what we'd need to know for our tests tomorrow before it was dinner time. Shortly after we cleaned up, Haruhi walked up to her father to ask for permission to go out.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"Our club is having a study session together to prepare for our tests." said Haruhi.

"Study session?"

"It's nothing too exciting. It's going to be held at Yuki-chan's place."

Oruki looked at both of us suspiciously. I was half-convinced that he would say no. To my surprise, he was rather lenient. "I want you both back here by eleven, and if I find out that you were lying, one of you will die."

Well thank you for your infinite generosity, oh gracious lord. I am truly not worthy.

With that said, Haruhi and I were quickly out the door. As we left, Haruhi commented about the box I left outside. "What's in the box?"

I sighed before answering. "You're mom wants to light some fireworks to celebrate Tanabata."

"Aw," said Haruhi with a frown. "I want to light some, too."

"We better not take any," I said. "Your dad might catch us looking into the box and discover that I lied to him."

After pouting a bit, Haruhi finally began to walk away. "She better leave some for us to use later."

Once we began walking away, I looked at my watch only to realize that we had left about a half-hour earlier than needed. "Why are we leaving so soon?"

"We need to make sure we can have things set up when the others arrive. We'll only have a couple hours to get done, so we have to be quick."

Can you please tell me what you're up to? It's not anything too destructive, is it? I really, really don't want to die.

"You'll see when we get there," she said with a tone that guaranteed trouble. Yay...

When we arrived at the school, I followed Haruhi around the building, being sure to look out for anyone who might see us. It was only when we started walking over the athletic field that I realized what she was up to. I was careful not to say anything, though, since I technically shouldn't know what she was about to do.

She didn't say anything until we made it to the utility shed. "Did he ever tell you about what I did to the athletic field at my old Junior High?" When she said "he," she must have been referring to Taniguchi.

"Yeah, he did. I heard you got into a lot of trouble for doing it." And pretty soon we would be getting into trouble again.

Haruhi ignored me and pulled out a key from her pocket. "I was able to grab this the other day during lunch. The security at this school is really lacking."

"Is this really a good idea," I said feeling increasingly nervous. "The school might suspend all of us, and your dad is going to kill us when he finds out."

"We'll be fine," she said as the door opened. "This is hardly worse than the mud-wrestling tournament we held before, remember?"

It was when I spotted the two line drawers inside that a huge realization hit me. There was a much bigger problem to all this than getting into trouble with the school or Oruki. That problem was hiding the fact that I was John Smith. Up till now, Haruhi hadn't realized that he and I were the same person. However, if I were to start drawing lines on the athletic field again, she might figure it out, and who knows what might happen if she did. The entire universe was potentially at risk!

It was then that I spotted the rest of our club approaching. Haruhi smiled and waved them over as she pulled out both of the line-drawers. "Great timing!"

When the three of them reached us, I noticed Koizumi smiling with a hand on his chin. "It appears that we are up to some sort of mischief again, I see."

"I'll explain everything," said Haruhi as she pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. "Four years ago, I broke into my school and drew a special message on the athletic field using a line drawer much like these. At the time, I was very satisfied with what I'd done, but in reflecting on it now, I realize that the message is no longer relevant. Today, I want a new message to be made to replace the old one." She then waved the paper in her hand around. "Take a look!"

We gathered around to look at the message on the paper. As expected, it was completely incoherent nonsense to the untrained eye. If my memory was correct, it was very similar to the message that was made four years ago, with only small differences.

"Interesting," said Koizumi.

"W...what does it mean?" asked Asahina-san.

"That's a secret," said Haruhi. "Maybe later I'll tell you."

Nagato nodded lightly once she had a chance to see the message. I'll have to ask her later what it says.

As much as I would've loved to be enthusiastic about this project, I had concerns far too big to ignore. I had to do whatever possible to avoid helping out on this. It never fails that I end up doing all the hard work, so I had little doubt that would happen again. I can't give her the opportunity to discover the truth. "I'm not doing this."

Haruhi frowned. "Why not?"

"The last thing I need is to get suspended from school or killed by your dad. I'm not having any part of it."

"What are you whining about? It's not like this is the first time we've done something that could get us into trouble! If you don't help out, you're going to get a penalty!"

"I'll take one then." No matter how bad the penalty is, it's better than putting the universe in serious risk.

Haruhi because obviously annoyed. "Why are you being so difficult? Sure, it's normal enough for you to complain, but you almost never disobey! Don't you care about doing something special with the Brigade?"

It was then that Asahina-san lightly tugged on my shirt sleeve. "Um...Kyon-kun. Uh...I...I think you should help."

I was shocked by what she said. Isn't she worried about what might happen? I was sure that she knew about what had happened four years ago and how it was dangerous for Haruhi to know who I was. She was knocked out during that time, so it's possible that she doesn't know yet, but that didn't seem likely to me. Wait...maybe she does know and...oh no. Don't tell me that I HAVE to do this.

Asahina-san looked at the ground shyly. "I...I can't tell you why, but it's really important that you help us write the message."

Uuuuuuuugggggghhhhhhh... Can't you time travelers let this one go? Please? I really hate feeling like a cosmic plaything.

I reluctantly gave in. "Fine...I'll help."

Asahina-san appeared relieved while Haruhi still appeared somewhat annoyed. She narrowed her eyes a bit at Asahina-san but quickly seemed to drop it.

"Okay, let's get started," Haruhi announced before pointing at myself and Koizumi. "I want this message to be much bigger than the one made four years ago, so the both of you will be working together. We don't have much time, so you both need to be as fast as possible!"

The speed I was going to do this was the least of my concerns. What I needed to do was think of a way to do it that didn't remind her of John. Unfortunately, I'd completely forgotten how I did this that night. From my perspective, it had been a year. However, it's been four years for Haruhi...maybe that could work to my advantage. Perhaps she's forgotten enough that she won't recognize me when I start doing this. Aw screw it! I'm just going to do this and hope for the best. Knowing my previous track record for avoiding disasters, I would just fail anyway. I really hope I don't regret this.

Koizumi and I started on opposite sides of the field and started drawing the message as best we could while trying to understand Haruhi's near incoherent rantings. It was a warm evening, so it wasn't long before I was sweating profusely. It was every bit as miserable as the last time I did it. However, by the time I was about half done, I noticed Haruhi was becoming increasingly less vocal with her commands, as if she was getting lost in thought. Whenever I looked in her direction, I noticed her staring at me briefly before looking back at the paper she wrote the message on. Great. That's clearly a good sign.

After nearly two hours, we were finally done. Indeed it was much larger and grander than the original. If it weren't for the fact that I knew this message would probably lead to bad things, I'd feel a sense of accomplishment.

I noticed that Haruhi appeared satisfied with the final result. "Good! That should be clear enough to be understood."

Realizing my chance, I leaned towards Nagato. "What does it say?"

Nagato looked into my eyes coolly before looking at the field. Her answer was almost inaudible.

"We are here."

I was awestruck. I was right that the message was similar to the old one, but I hadn't realized until now just how different it was at the same time. I felt compelled to walk up to Haruhi and place a hand on her shoulder. When she turned to look at me, I gave her a smile. I figured that it was best to encourage any positive behaviors from my girlfriend.

After another minute of admiring our work, Haruhi made an announcement. "We should get going. We all have tests tomorrow, and it would be a crime for any of us to fail those tests just because we didn't get enough sleep."

We all nodded and began to walk towards the location where we usually parted ways before going home. Along the way, I privately asked Koizumi if it were possible for him to do something about the message before school started the next morning. I would love it if it were possible that this message didn't cause me to be suspended or murdered the next day. He told me he had a solution that he would work on with Nagato later. Feeling relieved knowing that problem would be solved, I waved my friends goodbye before taking off toward home with Haruhi.

As Haruhi and I made our way home, she spoke. "I wanted to confess something to you."

My heart jumped a bit when I heard this. "About what?"

She appeared to be tying to find the right words. "The truth is...that I wasn't alone when I wrote that original message four years ago."

I had to do my best to sound surprised. "Really?"

"There was someone there that I met while trying to do it. It was a guy. He...he looked a lot like you."

My heart was really pounding now. "I see."

"It must have been a coincidence, though. He was wearing a North High uniform like you, but at that time you were only in Junior High, so it couldn't have been you."

I was relieved to hear this. "Funny to hear that there's someone out there who looks like me."

"Well, it was dark, so I never got a good look at him...or his sister for that matter. It was weird. Anyway, I'm bringing this up because you reminded me of him a lot when you were working on the message earlier."

"I see," I said, not sure of how to respond.

"I kind of wish I could meet him again. He was the reason I even went to North High. He gave me hope that I would find some extraordinary things there, and while it's true that I haven't met any alien, time-travelers or espers yet, I'm really glad I started going there. I've gotten to meet some great people." She turned to me and smiled her gorgeous million-watt smile. "Most of all, it gave me that chance to meet you."

I was too touched by her statement to bother with the irony of what she said about not meeting anyone extraordinary. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"I would just like to thank him," she said. "I owe him that much."

"I think he knows...somehow," I said before realizing that I might have said too much. It was at this moment, however that I noticed a dull pain near my forehead. I rubbed my head to relieve it.

Haruhi noticed my discomfort. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "I'm just getting a headache."

"Take some aspirin when we get back. You need to be in top shape for your tests tomorrow."

I nodded as I realized we were on the street leading to our home. A few minutes later, we arrived only to find Oruki standing over what appeared to be a distraught Naru-san in the living room. He had a certain box under his arm.

"Did you really think you could pull one over on me?" said Oruki. "What made you think I wouldn't notice you grabbing the ladder from the garage? Or that box of fireworks?

Naru-san sniffled a bit before responding. "It's not fair. I just wanted to have some fun. I was only going to light them off on the roof."

Oruki lightly chopped Naru-san in the head. "No!"

"Owwie!" cried Naru-san in response as she rubbed her head. I was really irked to see her like that.

"The last thing we need is to have the police over here because you want to have a little 'fun'. You cause enough grief around here every holiday. Is it really too much to ask you not to do anything out of hand?"

Naru-san didn't respond and instead continued to pout.

Oruki noticed Haruhi and I near the door and looked at the clock. "You're late!"

I looked at the clock when he said this. It was 11:05 PM. "Sorry. We lost track of time."

"Whatever. Just hurry up and go to bed!" Before we could comply, though, he pointed to the box under his arm. "By the way, did you know about this?" He then opened the box and showed the contents.

As much as I would have loved to take some of the heat away from Naru-san, Oruki was way too scary for me to want to be honest. "I didn't know."

After looking at me suspiciously for a second, he turned to Naru-san. "Don't get Kyon-kun involved with your hair-brained schemes again! He doesn't need your bad influence!"

Naru-san looked at me in a way that nearly broke me heart. I'm sooooooooooo sorry Naru-san! I'll promise I'll make it up to you later! Please don't hate me for my cowardice!

Haruhi whispered in my ear as we went upstairs. "We need to make sure he doesn't throw those fireworks away. I could use them."

Oh no. What are you planning? Mixing you with fireworks always scares me. Thinking about it is making my head hurt worse.

After that I took it upon myself to grab a few aspirin and swallow them down before going to bed. It had been a hectic day today, so the last thing I needed was a headache to slow me down.

Hopefully I would feel better tomorrow...

* * *

**There we go! Hopefully you this chapter was worth the wait (probably not).**

**Before I go, I just wanted to point out that Meet the Suzumiyas now has its own page on TvTropes. However, it's pretty bare now, so I would appreciate it if any of you could edit in some tropes if you would like. You can find it if you type Meet the Suzumiyas and tvtropes in to Google.**

**Have a great day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this wasn't updated sooner. I was delayed partly because I felt inclined to reread the entire light novel series in anticipation for the fan translation of the two most recent light novels that were released. I still have a ways to go before I'm caught up, but at least I wasn't delayed five months like I was with chapter two.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

I've had a large number of bizarre dreams over the course of the last year. Some of them were harmless enough, like when the SOS Brigade had become characters in an old western movie called _The Wizard of Oz_ (I looked it up recently to remind myself of the name). Others were pokes into my psyche, like the dreams involving my cousin which thankfully stopped after I started dating Haruhi. Then there were the nightmares, like when I dreamed that I was being killed by Ryoko Asakura that had possessed a wooden turtle.

The dream I was having would definitely fit in that last category.

I was standing in a foggy, gray, featureless void, reminiscent of a certain room in the Water Temple. As I looked around for the tree that was supposed to be in the middle of this void, I soon discovered that my shadow was behaving unusually. It lifted itself off the ground. At first, I wasn't alarmed, but when my shadow began to grow to an enormous size and take on a monstrous shape, I realized something was wrong.

It attacked me immediately by trying to crush me with its giant hand. I could do nothing other than leap out of the way. I searched my person for some kind of weapon, but I didn't have one. Totally not fair! I got up and tried to run, but one of the fingers on the creature turned into a tentacle and grabbed my ankle. I tried to get away, but I was soon lifted high into the air. Just before I was slammed into the ground, I saw an orb of red light hit the finger, causing it to let go of me. I was then caught in a heroic manner by Koizumi. The idea of being rescued like this by him annoyed the hell out of me. If Taniguchi ever found out, I'd never hear the end of it.

After I was put down, I saw that Nagato and Asahina-san were also here. Asahina-san was wearing her brilliant Battle Waitress outfit that was just so adorable on her. What I would give to see her in that outfit again...wait, forget that. I'm not single anymore.

The three of them lined up in front of the monster, preparing for battle. The monster attacked with a large swipe of its claw, but was blocked by Nagato's field. Koizumi transformed into a red ball and collided with the creature. Asahina-san apparently was able to use her Mikuru beam, and large blasts of energy shot out of her eye and hit the creature with tremendous force. Nagato followed this up with her own attack by thrusting her own bright beam-like appendages into the monster. However, none of these attacks appeared to do any damage.

The shadow countered with a huge sweeping attack that knocked all three of them off their feet. I screamed out to see if they were okay, but none of them moved. However, before I could find out if any of them had died, I noticed that Haruhi was standing next to me. I called out to her, but she didn't even acknowledge my existence. She just stood there and watched the creature in complete awe and wonder.

The monster spotted Haruhi and moved its enormous hand towards her. It gently picked her up and brought her closer towards itself. I screamed as loud as I could, but neither of them noticed me. A minute later, the shadow placed Haruhi directly onto its chest, and she was quickly absorbed into its body. Suddenly, the creature howled in what appeared to be nearly orgasmic pleasure. It's body began to twist and distort as if it was transforming. Unfortunately, before I could see the end result of this transformation, it looked upon me, and with a single motion it, it lifted its arm to crush me. The last thing I saw was the giant hand obscuring my vision.

I felt a familiar weight land on my body. It took only seconds to realize what was happening. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy it.

"Good morning, Kyon!" came the excited voice of my girlfriend.

G...get off of me. I'm freezing...

Haruhi moved up to my face to try and kiss me, but she stopped when she noticed something wrong. "You look so pale. Are you okay?" She then placed a hand on my forehead. "Oh my god, you're burning up!"

Wh...what are you talking about? I'm freezing. If I got any colder, my atoms would reach the state of a Bose–Einstein condensate.

Haruhi got up and walked out of my room. "I'm going to grab a thermometer."

My head hurt so bad that I was seriously wondering if I would die, and I couldn't stop shivering. How did I get so sick so quickly? Just last night I had a measly headache. Who doesn't get one of those every once in a while? Man this sucked.

A second later, Naru-san looked inside my room, followed by Haruhi.

"Is he okay," asked Naru-san.

Haruhi ignored her mother and placed the thermometer into my mouth. After a minute, it gave its measurement.

"40.1 degrees," said Haruhi as her eyes widened. "That's really warm."

"Oh my!" said Naru-san. "Should we get him to a doctor?"

"No...I'm fine," I said as I tried to sit up.

Haruhi pushed me back down. "No, Kyon! You need to rest!"

"But...I have exams to take today."

"That doesn't matter! Your health is way more important than some stupid exams."

It was then that Oruki entered. "What is he dying?" he said with all the concern of a potato.

"Dad!" said Haruhi with a scowl.

"He has an over 40 degree fever," said Naru-san.

"Is that so?" said Oruki. "So you're only close to dying. Pity."

T...too weak...to retort...

"I'm getting you a wet washcloth," said Haruhi as she bolted out of the room once again. I had to admit that it was nice to have her take care of me.

"I guess I'll have to call the school and your parents," said Naru-san as she walked out of the room as well.

Great. That's just what my mom needs to hear. She was already worried enough about my grades.

With the two women out of the room, this left Oruki standing in my room. He looked around awkwardly for a few seconds before saying something. "So...if you're not hungry, can I eat your portion of breakfast?"

You have the worst sense of humor I have ever seen.

After that, Haruhi returned with a bowl of water and a washcloth. She placed the cool washcloth on my head. I had to admit that it felt pretty good. After a minute of watching me, Haruhi made an announcement. "I'm staying home!"

"The hell you are!" said Oruki. "I'm not letting you miss your exams!"

"I don't care! Kyon's sick! I have to take care of him!"

"He's not dying, okay? He'll be fine! Naru-chan and I will take care of him! If he gets any worse, I'll drive him to the hospital myself!"

Haruhi didn't respond as she looked at me with a mix of concern and anxiety. After dipping the wash cloth in the water one last time and placing it back on my head, she stood up. "Kyon, I order you to get better as soon as possible! It's bad enough that your missing your exams, but you're also going to miss an important Brigade meeting! That's unacceptable!"

There you go hiding your true feelings again. Just be honest and say that your worried about me.

Haruhi walked out of the room just as Naru-san returned. "Your school knows you're not coming in, and your mother knows you're sick. How are you feeling, Kyon-kun?"

"Like crap," I said.

"Don't worry," she said with a smile. "I'll take good care of you! With my help, you'll be feeling better in no time!"

I wonder if I should be a little scared...she's not mad at me for last night, is she? That could be really bad.

It was then that I sneezed hard. Not having anything on me other than my hand, it was soon covered in a large amount of snot. "Ugh."

"Ew," said Naru-san in disgust. "I better get some tissues." She quickly left and returned with a box of tissues and cleaned my hand. "Looks like you'll be needing these, too. I'll leave them next to you in case you need them."

Not long after that, Haruhi appeared in my room again, dressed in her school uniform. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She looked at her mother. "Make sure you take good care of him."

"Don't order your mother around!" said Oruki. "Now get out of here before you're late! And if you screw up your tests, I'm going to strangle him!" He was sure to point to me when he said that.

Haruhi game me one last worried glace before she walked out of the room and left the house. Naru-san dipped the washcloth and replaced it one last time before getting up. "I'm going to make Oruki and I some breakfast. While I'm doing that, I'll fix you up a special soup that I've found to be a great remedy for the flu. It'll make you feel better before you know it."

I had a really bad feeling about this remedy. Usually, anything Naru-san cooked was delicious, but whenever she made something bizarre like her protein drinks, it was like eating animal crap flavored with death. Unfortunately, my sickness made me unable to protest.

After Naru-san walked out of the room, Oruki looked at me with what I could only guess was his warped idea of disappointment. "Kyon-kun. I just want to let you know that if for some reason you fail your exams, I will not allow you to marry my daughter. My daughter will not marry a dead beat."

Hey that's great. It's not like I feel crappy enough as it is. Let's pile more pressure while we're at it...speaking of pressure...ow...

It was when the middle-aged bastard had left that I started to feel really awful. I still had the chills, but it was also compounded by a sudden nausea. The room around me was stating to spin. I wanted to close my eyes and try to sleep it off, but I felt even worse when I tried. Man, this sucked.

I waited around in my bed feeling miserable for an hour before Naru-san returned with a bowl of what appeared to be soup.

"I hope you're hungry, Kyon-kun. This is a recipe passed down my family for generations!"

Should that make me even more scared?

"Now sit up please so you can eat this up." After I complied, Naru-san moved the bowl of cool water onto the floor and placed the soup bowl in its place. She then took a spoonful of what ever it was and moved it towards my mouth. Normally, the idea of being spoon fed by Naru-san probably wouldn't have been so bad, but when I saw how dark the liquid in the spoon was, I was reluctant to say the least.

"Don't be scared. Good medicine always tastes bad!"

Shouldn't that make me more scared? I looked at the spoon for a good minute before swallowing hard and opening my mouth. The soup tasted like gasoline mixed with small bits of tar. It was agony to try and swallow it down. After grimacing, I was horrified to find another spoonful in front of my face.

"I'm good."

Naru-san frowned. "I'm sorry, Kyon-kun. This won't work unless you eat more."

Why are you doing this to me? Oruki said a few weeks ago that she's apparently very passive aggressive. Is this some way for her to exact her revenge on me? No, she not that kind of person.

I reluctantly took the second spoonful, only to find it even worse than the first one. After I swallowed it down, I felt a tremendous burning sensation in my stomach. When combined with the nausea I was already feeling, it was impossible to keep myself from puking. I was just quick enough to grab the garbage can next to me as I emptied the contents of my stomach. After I had vomited enough to allow the nausea to pass a bit, I laid back into my bed.

Naru-san looked a bit disturbed by me condition. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"No." I said, worried that going to the hospital would make everyone worry. "I just need some rest."

Naru-san frowned at me for a few minutes before she finally stood up and left my room. I got the feeling that she was feeling powerless to help me.

The next few hours went by like a blur. All I did was shiver violently while my mind was assaulted with strange images I could barely describe. I felt like I was falling through an environment filled with darkness and odd shapes. Every time one of these shapes collided into on another, I felt a stabbing pain in my head. Occasionally, the image of Haruhi would rush towards me but would fade before she reached me. What the hell was going on in my head?

Eventually, I started to feel something tickling the back of my nose. I had no idea what was causing it, but soon I was in the verge of sneezing. I grabbed a tissue and sneezed into it. I immediately felt something somewhat large pop out of my nose. When I looked at the tissue, I saw some blackish, gooey...thing that was covered in some blood. In my delirious state, I threw the tissue in the garbage next to me before grabbing another tissue to wipe up some of the blood on my face. I then laid back down and passed out.

The carelessness of my actions that last minute would haunt me for some time afterward.

* * *

I was soundly sleeping for what seemed like quite some time before I was awoken by the sound of the front door loudly opening. The next thing I noticed was that my bed was soaked with what must have been sweat, followed by the realization that I felt remarkably better than I did a few hours ago. The sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs signaled to me the arrival of my girlfriend.

"Kyon!" yelled Haruhi, obviously still worried. "How are you holding up?" Before I could answer, she rushed up to me and placed a hand on my forehead. "You feel a lot better."

"Yeah, I feel much better."

Haruhi then noticed that I was soaked. "It looks like the fever broke. That's good." She examined me a bit closer before I noticed that several other people had entered the room. Nagato, Asahina-san and Koizumi had all come here as well, perhaps concerned about my health. I looked at my clock and realized that they must have skipped the Brigade meeting and came directly here. I was kinda touched.

"Is he doing better?" asked Naru-san as both she and Oruki also entered.

"I'm doing okay now," I said with a smile.

"Good!" said Naru-san with a smile. "I knew my remedy would help!"

Uh, Naru-san? Don't you have to actually keep the remedy down before it could work?

"So he's better already, huh?" said Oruki with an annoyed tone. "How convenient!"

Haruhi shot a nasty glare at her father before turning back towards me. "Well, it's good that you're getting better since it was bad that you missed your exams today. Fortunately, you should be able to take the make-up exams tomorrow."

Oh, that's just what I wanted. Nothing is better than throwing away a good portion of my weekend in order to take exams.

Haruhi stood up. "You're still in recovery, so it's best that you eat something. I'll go down to the kitchen to make you something."

"You don't have to, sweetheart," said Naru-san.

"Just let her," said Oruki.

After Haruhi had gone downstairs, the three Brigade member approached me.

"I'm glad you're doing okay," said Asahina-san. "When Suzumiya-san told us you were really sick, I was worried."

It always feels good to have your concern. Don't you ever worry, Asahina-san. I'm not so weak as to let a measly bug take me down.

"I had to admit that when I noticed Suzumiya-san's emotional state, I realized that you must have been quite ill," said Koizumi with his annoying smile. "We are all relieved to know that it wasn't serious."

It sure felt serious when it was happening.

Koizumi continued. "That truth is that the others and myself had some concerns about your condition last night."

"What made you think that?"

"Shortly after you and Suzumiya-san split off from us, I was informed by both Nagato-san and Asahina-san that something appeared to have happened."

I looked at both the girls with concern. "What happened?"

"There...was a small time quake. I can't say anything else as it's classified information," said Asahina-san weakly.

I've grown used to the ambiguous nature of any information the time-traveler ever gave. I instead looked towards Nagato, who I knew would at least give me an answer.

"There was an explosion of data that occurred approximately five minutes after we departed from the train station. The data that was altered appeared to center around your exact location."

"Wait," I said. "Are you saying something happened to me? Is this related to why I got sick?"

"It might be," said Koizumi. "That is why Nagato-san wanted the opportunity to examine you further."

"May I begin?" asked Nagato as she held out her hand.

I agreed. "If there's something wrong, I'd like it fixed."

Nagato gently placed her hand on my forehead. Surprisingly, she only had it on there for few seconds before she pulled away. I noticed a subtle look of shock on her face. "It is gone."

"What is gone," I asked.

"The fragment of super-analog data is no longer imbedded within the confines of your cranium."

I was confused for a second before I remembered what she was talking about. Thoughts of that monstrous creature Nagato, Koizumi and I battled in the storeroom of that grocery store came rushing back. Apparently, when it exploded, a small piece of it entered my nose. Nagato had told me about it later, much to my chagrin. I was never comfortable with the idea of having that thing in my head.

"So it has gone missing, huh?" said Koizumi while pinching his chin. "Where could it have gone?"

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" interrupted Oruki. "What the hell are you guys talking about? Are you telling me some weird thing was inside his head?"

"I take it you weren't informed," said Koizumi.

"Uh, no!" said Oruki before looking at me. "Just when were you going to tell any of us about that thing?"

I looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't want you to worry."

Oruki took a second to gather his thoughts. "If I'm getting this right, that super-analog whatever was part of that monster that nearly kill everyone here! And you thought it wasn't worth mentioning?"

"I just figured that if it was really dangerous, Nagato would've said so."

"Oh, that's reassuring! I feel sooooooooooo much better knowing the alien has things taken care of!"

I took a great deal of offense to that statement. Of all the people I knew, Nagato was the only one other than Haruhi that I completely trusted. If it had been any guy other than him, I probably would have decked him.

"Are there any other surprises you haven't mentioned?" said Oruki. "Is the Loch Ness monster hiding under your bed?"

"No," I said. "There's nothing to worry about anyway. She said it was gone, right?"

"It's true that she said that," said Koizumi. "However, the question we should be asking is where did it go?"

"How do we know it didn't just disappear?" I asked. It was then that an important memory came back to me. "Wait, I think I know where it went!" I grabbed the garbage can next only to find that it was empty. "Huh? Where did all the garbage go?"

Naru-san answered. "I took it out earlier today while you were sleeping. Since it was filled with some gross stuff, I figured I'd do you a favor and take it out. Did I do a bad thing?"

"Where'd you put it?"

Naru-san pointed towards the street. "I brought it outside with the rest of the garbage."

I bolted out of my bed and out of my room, ignoring the pleas of Naru-san and Asahina-san that I should be more careful. I ran out of the front door and right to where the garbage was left. I started sifting through it to find the bag that belonged to my room. A moment later, I found it and saw that a hole had been ripped out of the side of it. I then saw a kitchen bag with another hole in it. When I examined the contents of the bag, I found that there were a ton of rotted leftover vegetables and fruits. I kept looking around for what I had sneezed out, but I failed.

"Did you find it?" said the voice of Koizumi from behind.

Don't startle me like that! Don't you realize that this is a bit of a tense moment? By now, everyone who was in my room had followed me out here.

"I can't find it," I said before looking at Nagato. "Do you know if it's in here somewhere?"

"It is not here," said Nagato.

"Do you have any idea where it went?"

Nagato subtly shook her head. "It is no longer near this location. Outside of a radius of 25 meters, I cannot detect its presence."

"Why can't you sense it from further away?"

"Interfaces were not designed with the intent of manipulating super-analog data. As a result, our ability to detect super-analog data is considerably less advanced than our ability to detect other forms of data."

"Great..." I said as I placed my hand on my face. I remembered that Nagato explained something like this when we were at the grocery store a while back. "It could be anywhere now."

"Don't worry," said Koizumi. "The Organization will do whatever it can to track it down. It would be quite troublesome if another creature like the one we fought before were to appear."

It was then that I heard the voice of Haruhi from the door. "What are you guys doing?" She then ran up to us. "What's going on?"

I smiled at her. "I was looking for something in the garbage. I sneezed something weird out before and I wanted to show it to the others.

"Ew," said Haruhi. "Why would you guys want to see that?"

"We were wondering if that thing was related to Kyon-kun's illness," said Koizumi. "Guess we won't be able to find out."

Haruhi examined the garbage in closer detail. "Did a wild animal get in here?"

"I think so," I said, not wanting Haruhi to know what really happened. I was hoping she wouldn't notice the bits of rotting, unused pieces of fruits and vegetables.

Haruhi stood up and grabbed me by my shoulder. "Whatever. You need to go back to bed. If you force yourself to move around while you're recovering, you could get sick again."

I reluctantly followed her orders and went back into my room. Shortly after that, the three Brigade members left, saying they were satisfied in knowing I was okay. Haruhi then brought up my meal. Since I hadn't eaten anything all day, I was starving. I probably ate it in record time. So good! Haruhi sat next to me while I ate, which I had to admit was enjoyable.

"Didn't you make something for yourself to eat?" I asked.

"I'll eat later," she said as she leaned on me.

Man her body feels good. I should get sick more often. I was sure to rub her back a bit while I ate. Before long, we were feeling quite relaxed.

I then remembered something that had worried me earlier. "So what happened with those markings we left on the athletic field. Did you guys get into trouble?" I was surprised that Oruki hadn't come to kill either of us by now.

Haruhi sat up scowled when I asked. "You would not believe what happened! After we had left, someone came around and defaced the whole message! How dare they?"

"Really? What did they do?"

"They changed up the message so that it was completely different! Now it says some absolute nonsense!"

Didn't it already say some nonsense already?

"I bet the Student Council did that, or maybe we have some other unknown enemy who is out to sabotage the efforts of the SOS Brigade! Man, it pisses me off?"

"So what did the school officials think about it all?"

"Well, they questioned me before class started, but because the message was different from what we had put down last night, I felt inclined to deny my involvement. I'm not taking credit for that garbage that was on the field!"

"So they believed you?"

"I guess so, although I think they're still investigating. Hopefully they'll find the culprits that ruined my message! I'll make sure they pay!"

I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. I knew exactly who was responsible for defacing the message. Good job Koizumi and Nagato. I can now sleep soundly knowing that I won't be killed today.

Haruhi then appeared to remember something else. "Oh, by the way. Yuki-chan is going on her first date tomorrow."

I remembered the agreement we had made with the Computer Club president a few days ago. "Is Nagato really okay with going through with this?"

"She seems okay," said Haruhi. "However, I don't plan on leaving her alone with that guy."

"What do you mean?" I said, feeling confused

Haruhi winked at me. "I'm gathering the rest of the Brigade to follow them. We'll be on a secret mission to ensure that Yuki-chan is kept safe! You better make sure you get your exams done as quickly as possible tomorrow, because we're going to be busy for the rest of the day!"

You have got to be kidding me. Don't you have any shame? It's incredibly rude to follow two people on a date.

"I don't care. Yuki-chan is just a girl. She couldn't possibly be able to defend herself if his pervy hands were to try and do something! Remember what he did to Mikuru-chan?"

THAT WAS YOUR FAULT! Not only that, but it also be a cold day in hell before Nagato would need help in dealing with an ordinary person. Although I have to admit that I still hated the idea of Nagato going out with him.

I sighed. "Alright, I guess it's up to us to keep an eye out on Nagato."

"Good!" said Haruhi with her million-watt smile. "The Brigade will unite to take down our enemy!"

I ignore her last nonsensical statement and finished my meal. After finishing it, Haruhi was nice enough to take my plate and kiss me on the cheek. The rest of the day was uneventful. I sat on my bed and did whatever last minute studying I could muster before I became too tried to keep my eyes open. I hated the fact that I had to go to school on a Saturday, but if it meant getting a little bit more studying time, I guess it couldn't be so bad.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I wondered what became of that thing that came out of my head. I sure hope the others find it and kill it.

* * *

**Well, I wonder what will become of that blackish thingy.**

**I'm hoping the next chapter won't take longer than a week to complete. The next chapter should be a lot of fun to write. See you guys soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Pretty much as promised, here is the next chapter! I probably would have had it done yesterday, but I got a cold. XP**

**Also, I'd like to announce that I've gotten my very own Meet the Suzumiyas website! You can read both the Meet the Suzumiyas fic and the sequel there. There is also a shoutbox and a location for any fanart you guys might be interested in posting. I'd like to say thank you to Medz03 for building it for me. The URL is www(dot)meetthesuzumiyas(dot)co(dot)cc/ I hope all of you come and check it out!**

**Anyway, let's get this party started!**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

It wasn't long ago that it was mandatory for all Japanese students to go to school on a Saturday. My parents would remark about how important it was to their education and how removing it was a huge mistake. A lot of the older generation seems to think that a full weekend for teens is contributing to the corruption and denigration of the younger generation.

Right now, I'm thinking that all of those old fogies should remove those sticks up their asses.

I was currently trying to complete the make-up exams that were given out to anyone not able to make their exams earlier this week. The testing was done in a completely different classroom than my normal class, which felt really, really weird. Worse still, I wasn't even able to take the seat that was second to the back and next to the window. I'd been sitting in that seat in my own class for so long that it felt weird to sit anywhere else.

To compound it all, I didn't have Haruhi behind me. I know in the past I would complain about how she would get done early and snore away, becoming a huge distraction. However, I found that not having her behind me was an even worse distraction! What the hell is wrong with me? This feeling of uneasiness was definitely affecting my performance. Dammit, and to think that I was technically better prepared for this exam than any other I'd ever taken, thanks to Haruhi's tutoring. Was it all a waste? Am I really this helpless without my girlfriend's support. This sucks!

Thankfully, when I had completed the exams, I was free to leave. Unfortunately as I was walking home, I felt like a cumulonimbus cloud was following me overhead, raining down onto me. My mother was going to kill me when she found out my test results. If they were bad enough, I'd bet that she'd travel all the way back down here just to make sure I went to a cram school over the summer. That would really ruin my summer break, as I was hoping I'd be able to spend it with Haruhi.

When I came home, I saw Oruki and Naru-san both in the living room, although Naru-san was actually spending time on the computer. I didn't give it much mind until Naru-san called me over.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"I...don't know," she said with a look of confusion. "The computer is...taking a long time to do stuff."

That's odd. I know this computer is no longer brand new, but it should still run pretty fast for most applications. I took a closer look at how the computer was behaving, and sure enough, it took nearly a minute for the computer to even open the web browser. "It shouldn't be this slow. Something's wrong."

Naru-san looked worried. "Oh no! Did I do something to it?"

"I'm thinking that it might be infected with a virus or two. Have you been clicking around on some suspicious web banners?"

"I don't think so," she said before smiling brightly. "I did click on this one advertisement that said it would clean up my computer and make it super fast for free! It's a good thing I downloaded that! Looks like I needed it!"

I placed my hand on my face. I should have known that Naru-san's inexperience with computers would potentially doom this one. When I looked at the program she downloaded, sure enough that it was indeed a Trojan program. "I'm afraid that program you downloaded was actually a virus."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Oh my..." She scowled at the computer, which I had to admit was kinda adorable. I think that might be the first time I've seen that expression on her face. "Those sneaky bastards."

"You have to be more careful in the future. The internet is full of scams and cons."

"Can you fix it?" said Naru-san with the look of a begging puppy.

I sighed before looking at the computer screen once more. "I'll try..."

So for the next two hours I tried my best to combat the viruses that Naru-san foolishly downloaded. I ran the computers anti-virus programs over and over, tried looking around the system folders for suspicious files, and looked at the registry, but I ultimately failed to save the computer. I simply lacked the know how to fix an infection this bad.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling defeated.

"No, I should be the one to apologize," said Naru-san sadly. "I ruined our computer."

"Don't worry. I know someone who can help."

"Who?"

"Nagato. She's pretty much a uber-hacker. And if that doesn't help, I'm sure she could just use her powers to fix it."

"Oooo, that's the alien, right?"

"Who's the alien?" came a voice behind us.

I jumped the moment I heard it. It was Haruhi, who was checking out what was going on.

"N...nothing," I said. "I was just joking around with your mother."

Haruhi leaned forward to take a look at the screen. "Something wrong with the computer?"

"You mother downloaded some viruses, and I failed to remove them."

"Mom!" she yelled. "How could you ruin it already?"

"Sorry..." Naru-san said with her head down.

Haruhi sighed. "I guess I'll ask Yuki-chan to help. Speaking of which..." She looked at me. "We need to get going. Go change into some casual clothes."

Oruki overheard us. "Where are you two going?"

I was worried that we might have to come up with some excuse for why we were going out, but Haruhi was surprisingly honest. "We're going out to spy on our friend, Yuki-chan. She's going out on her first date and we have to make sure she's safe."

Oruki seemed a bit dumbfounded. "What?"

"I don't trust that guy that she's going out with. I'm almost certain that he going to try and do something perverted, so I'm gathering the Brigade to make sure that if he tries anything, we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law!"

If you really didn't trust him that much, why'd you even offer to let him go out with Nagato? And what law exactly are we prosecuting him on? I'm pretty sure the SOS Brigade has absolutely zero legal authority.

"Sounds like you guys are going to have a lot of fun," said Naru-san. "Try not to get into trouble!"

Oruki didn't even respond, instead turning back to watching TV. There's only so much of his daughter's weirdness that he could take.

After that, I quickly went upstairs and changed. Once I was done, Haruhi and I were out the door towards wherever we were planning to meet the others. I was sure to note that she was carrying a bag with her as we left.

* * *

Haruhi and I met up with Asahina-san and Koizumi at the center of town. Haruhi looked around the area suspiciously before she gathered us together.

"As you all know, we're on a secret mission to watch Yuki-chan and keep her safe during her date with that computer club guy. It's the responsibility of all members to look out for one another in their greatest moments of need."

I would hardly call a date the "greatest moment of need". Nagato was more than capable of taking care of herself, even when it comes to something like this. Of course, I'd be lying if I said I was thrilled over the prospect of Nagato dating anyone. I'd feel the same if it was Asahina-san as well. As I've said before, you could say that I was protective of all the girls in the Brigade.

I wasn't bothered by the idea of keeping an eye out on Nagato. I was more bothered with how we were going about it. We were going to do this like some kind of spy mission, but wouldn't it have made more sense to set the first date up as some kind of double date? That way we could kill two birds with one stone. I wouldn't mind going on a real date with Haruhi. It's been a over week since our last one.

"We can't do that, Kyon," said Haruhi. "If he knows we're here, then he won't try anything. We need to be secretive so that we can see this guy's true colors."

I shook my head in defeat. I guess there was some kind of warped logic going on in her brain.

"I think it's really romantic that Nagato-san is going on a date," said Asahina-san with a blush.

Koizumi nodded in an annoying manner. "I think it's should be our responsibility to ensure that this date will be a positive experience for Nagato-san.

The best way to ensure that this date will be anything close to positive is if we stay out of it...not that I was planning on following my own advice. Man, I'm a huge hypocrite.

"There she is," said Haruhi while pointing. "Get down."

Sure enough, there was Nagato walking down the street towards our usual meeting spot. I knew already that we were wasting our time hiding from her. She probably knew we were here even before we noticed her. In any case, if she did know we were here, she didn't show any signs of it. I was surprised to find that she wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, she was wearing a light yellow sundress. I wondered when she would have bought it or whether it was her idea to wear it. In any case, it looked good on her.

A couple minutes later, we spotted the extremely nervous looking computer club president. He was dressed casually enough, but you could tell that he probably messed with his hair a bit too much. I almost felt bad for the guy...almost.

"Okay, everyone," whispered Haruhi. "When the two of them move out, we'll try to follow them while wearing these." She then pulled out of her bag four baseball caps and four pairs of sunglasses. "We should be inconspicuous while we have these on."

Uh, no. If anything, wearing these things will make us more conspicuous. Are you trying to get us caught?

"An excellent plan," said Koizumi.

Will you stop kissing up to my girlfriend? Of all people, surely you should be aware of the stupidity of this plan!

"Stop complaining, Kyon!" said Haruhi almost to loudly. "Just stick to the plan."

I sighed deeply before putting on the baseball cap and sunglasses. Haruhi tied a ponytail before putting her cap on, which pleased me greatly. Asahina-san put her hair into twin tails as well. Before long, we were all in our "disguises" and had begun to follow the two towards wherever they were going.

After a minute of following them, I noticed Koizumi leaning towards me way too close. I swear the next time you do that I'm decking you!

"You seem conflicted."

"What gives you that idea?"

I noticed that his pace was slowing down slightly, giving me the impression that he wanted to put a little distance between the two of us and Haruhi. I reluctantly complied.

"I was just watching you for a bit. You appear to react negatively to both our current task, as well as the entrance of Nagato-san's date."

Would you please watch me less? It's kinda creepy. "What about it?"

"It just seems to me that your desire for Nagato-san to express her freedom conflicts with your desire for her security. You want her to be happy but are protective of her as well."

"What I want is for you to stop analyzing me."

He ignored my complaint and continued. "I suppose you'd feel the same if Asahina-san were in that position...or if Suzumiya-san were there."

Of course I'd be upset if Haruhi were out on a date with that guy! If that were the case, I'd probably skip the spying and go directly to strangling him.

Koizumi chuckled lightly. "Perhaps you see yourself as a bit of a parental figure in our group. The father, maybe?"

Do I look old enough to be a father to you? I've been told that my voice is deep for my age, but still.

Koizumi motioned his hand towards Haruhi. "And Suzumiya-san would probably be the mother figure. In a sense, we're all one family."

Strangest family I've ever met...okay maybe second strangest. It's kinda debatable. Oh, and by the way, if you were to start dating some girls, I wouldn't feel bad in the slightest.

"I'm just commenting on how much our group has changed over the last year. It kinda relates to how we've all changed in that time."

Funny, you don't seem to have changed much. You're every bit as annoying as you ever were. "Is there some kind of point that you're trying to make?"

"No, not really. I'm just babbling."

I really hate it when you talk to me about things that don't matter. It was then that I remembered something I wanted to talk about. "Anyway, about that thing that came out of my nose. Have you guys found it yet?"

Koizumi shook his head. "I'm afraid the answer is no. We're doing the best we can, but like Nagato-san, we espers can only detect its presence when it's relatively close by."

"Aren't the interfaces helping you?"

"From what I understand, they're doing what they can to track it down, but I wouldn't say that our searching is coordinated. We're pretty much acting independently with only myself and Nagato-san to communicate in between."

"That doesn't seem very efficient."

"I doesn't, does it?" he said as he scratched the back of his head. "Even though our two factions are allied, we try not to get in each others' way. We have our ways of tracking it down. They have their own."

"Let's just hope one of you guys find it. Is Asahina-san's faction helping, too?"

"We've heard nothing from them. It seems to me that they're staying out of it."

That doesn't sound good...

"There was something I wanted to asked you," said Koizumi. "I wasn't able to ask you yesterday due to Suzumiya-san's interference, but I wanted to know what had happened Thursday evening after we split up."

"What do you want to know?"

"I was wondering if something either of you said might have been the cause of the reawakening of the super-analog creature. Anything you can answer could be helpful in allowing us to track it down."

I paused for a second before answering. "Haruhi was telling me about that incident during Tanabata four years ago. She admitted to me that she wasn't alone that night."

"That was when Asahina-san brought you back in time to meet her, correct? I'm assuming that she doesn't know the identity of the stranger she met that night."

"Yeah. She told me she wanted to meet that guy so she could thank him."

"And did you feel at all strange after that conversation?"

"I got a really bad headache right afterward. By the time I woke up the next morning, I was violently ill."

"I see," said Koizumi, who was no longer smiling. Instead, he appeared to be in rather deep contemplation. "It's about what I suspected. It seems that the reawakening of that creature was related to what she had told you. She expressed a desire to meet the man that inspired her to come to North High, and immediately after, she used her power to alter the nature of that creature."

"Wait a minute," I said confusedly. "What do you mean by alter? I thought she just woke it up?"

"You told me yourself that you saw it yesterday after you sneezed it out, correct?"

"Yeah, why?"

"If you'll remember, the original creature was invisible to us until Nagato-san altered the space around us to match the spectrum of the creature. Essentially, you should not have seen anything. Not only that, but the original fragment was considered inactive because the surroundings of your head were not made of any cellulose. And yet, not only was it able to awaken, it even grew a little, correct?"

"I guess so. Wasn't it originally supposed to be microscopic?"

"Precisely. This leads me to believe that although this new creature is similar to the original, it's also likely to be somewhat different as well."

"Just how different are we talking?"

"I can't say, although I would hope it's no more formidable that the original. I do remember that being a rather difficult battle."

No kidding. The original "tentacle beast" was tough enough that even the combined efforts of Koizumi and Nagato almost weren't enough.

"In any case," said Koizumi, "we should not underestimate what it can do. Since it seems to be visible outside of super-analog space now, it could be very troublesome of you do not destroy it before it reaches full maturity. We have to do what we can to prevent the public from discovering it."

I began to imagine the entire city being smashed into bit by the rampaging monster, followed by it being uselessly attacked by military weapons. That's just what the world needed, a bad science fiction movie coming to life.

"In any case, I'll be sure to update you later," said Koizumi. "The information you've given me should be helpful. I'll make sure Nagato-san knows about it later."

"I just hope you guys get rid of it once and for all. It's given all of us enough trouble."

"There!" said Haruhi as she pointed ahead. "They're going in there!"

Sure enough, we spotted Nagato and the president walking into a nearby restaurant. It was one of those moderately decent ones that wasn't extremely classy but was definitely a step above a fast food joint.

"We're going to wait a few minutes before going in," said Haruhi. "We all need to keep a low profile as to not draw attention."

Yeah, like that's going to happen. Next you'll have us dress as ninjas so we could sneak in unnoticed.

"I wanted to buy us some ninja costumes, but they were too expensive," said Haruhi with a frown.

Uh...yeah, I was being sarcastic. The fact that you would think that was a good idea almost hurts my head.

My criticism was ignored, and we all stood around like idiots for the next few minutes. A few patrons that were entering or leaving gave us weird looks as they walked by. This was going to be a disaster.

When we finally entered, we managed to find a booth we could sit at that gave us a good look at the two of them without being too close. When the waitress approached (she was polite enough not to comment on our ridiculous attire), we made our drink orders.

Haruhi pointed at Nagato. "What is she drinking?"

Waitress raised an eyebrow before looking at the other table. "I believe she is having the mint tea."

"I'll have that!" ordered Haruhi.

After taking writing that down, the waitress polite bowed before walking away to get our drinks.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Don't worry," said Haruhi. "It's all apart of the plan."

I sighed before leaning onto my hand. And to think this would've so much better if we'd have done this my way. Right now, the four of us looked like the most bizarre double date in history. Of course, the idea of Koizumi and Asahina-san dating made my stomach churn, so I was quick to dismiss the idea.

After we all got our drinks and made our orders, Haruhi announced her plan. "Here's what we need to do. Our goal is to switch my drink with Yuki-chan's."

"Why would we want to do that?" I asked.

"Simple. You see, it's likely that that pervert has slipped some kind of drug into Yuki-chan's drink while she wasn't paying attention. In order to thwart his attempts to take advantage of Yuki-chan, we need to make sure she doesn't drink the drug!"

I placed my hand on my face. Not only was the idea of Nagato being drugged patently absurd, even if he did try to do it, I doubt it would work. Of course, Haruhi didn't know that, but even still, this plan was stupid.

"How are we going to accomplish this task without getting caught?" asked Koizumi.

"That's easy," said Haruhi while looking at me. "You're going to do it while they're distracted."

"Why me?" I said half-annoyed.

"You're the one who looks the least recognizable wearing the disguise. We need to make sure neither of them discover our plan."

"How are we going to pull this off without them noticing?" I said.

"We'll create a distraction," said Haruhi while looking at Asahina-san. "That'll be your job, Mikuru-chan!"

Asahina-san became very nervous. "Me? Why do I have to do it?"

"Relax, you're perfect for the job! All you have to do is get up and bump into a waitress holding some drinks. That should create enough of a distraction for Kyon to move in and switch the glasses!" She then pointed at me. "Take my drink and get into position! When you see Mikuru-chan create her distraction, you know what to do!"

I hung my head in embarrassment as I took the drink and got up from the table. I slowly made my way around the restaurant, being sure not to be seen by the president. When I got into position, I felt myself getting really nervous. I knew that one small misstep would result in getting caught and blowing my cover. When I looked at the two of them, they seemed to be just silently sitting there, not talking much. It wasn't a surprise. Nagato is difficult to talk to if you don't know her very well. No doubt the computer club president felt very awkward.

I noticed Asahina-san getting up from the table. She was a nervous wreck as she looked around for someone to bump into. Dammit, Haruhi! I can understand you wanting me to do your dirty work, but why drag her into this?

It was then that she spotted a waitress with a tray full of glasses. As the waitress came close, Asahina-san took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She then started running towards the waitress. Unfortunately, she missed the waitress completely and instead bumped into a table next to her. She fell on top of it and tipped it over, causing all the food to spill onto her. I felt so bad for the little time-traveler that I almost missed my chance to switch the drinks.

Despite the poor execution, the distraction worked perfectly. The president looked towards the incident, completely unaware that I was walking next to him. I quickly took Nagato's drink and switched it. While I did that, I heard the president say something along the lines of "Do I know her?" It should be noted that Nagato herself did not fall for the distraction at all, instead looking at me. I only had enough time to look at her apologetically before I walked away with her drink. Man, this was humiliating.

Minutes later, Asahina-san was sitting at the table, covered in bits of food. Her embarrassment had resulted in a downpour of tears. Man, it pissed me off whenever Asahina-san was upset.

"Good job, Mikuru-chan!" said Haruhi. "As always, you prove that you're worthy of the title of Deputy Vice Chief!"

"It's all yucky," whimpered Asahina-san as she tried to wipe off the food with a napkin.

"Was it really necessary to send her to do that?" I said. "Why couldn't you have done it?"

"Everyone has their duty, Kyon! If I did everything, what would be the point of having a Brigade?"

You just didn't want to get your hands dirty. Stupid, selfish Brigade Chief.

"What should we do with the drink we just switched?" said Koizumi.

Haruhi eyed the glass closely. "Did she drink any of it?"

"It appears Nagato-san has taken a few sips of it," said Koizumi.

Haruhi rubbed her chin. "We need to find out quickly if it's really been drugged. We don't have much time. There's only one way to know for sure!" She then looked at Koizumi. "You need to drink it!"

Why does he have to drink it? It was your idea. Why don't you drink it?

Haruhi scowled at me. "You would allow me to ingress a potentially dangerous drug? How could you be so inconsiderate!"

"You're the one who's making accusations about drugs," I said. The truth is, though, that my real objection to Koizumi drinking the mint tea was that it meant he would get an indirect kiss from her. It bothered me almost as much as the idea of him and Asahina-san dating. Damn him!

"I guess it can't be helped," said Koizumi as he drank the mint tea down. We waited around a minute to see if anything happened.

"How are you feeling, Koizumi-kun," said Haruhi. "Are you feeling light-headed? Is the world spinning? Getting sick?"

"I feel fine, I'm afraid."

See? I knew this was a huge waste of time! Asahina-san got messy, I got humiliated, and Koizumi got an indirect kiss that he totally didn't deserve! And for what? Nothing!

Haruhi ignored my complaints and instead continued to rub her chin. "He's craftier than I thought..."

Or maybe...just maybe, he's not planning anything at all. I can't believe I'm defending the guy, but there's a really good possibility that he's half-way decent. And I'm well aware of the hypocrisy I've been displaying!

"Don't worry. When we're done eating, we'll keep following them. Perhaps he didn't know where to get his hands on those kinds of drugs and is planning something else."

I placed my hand on my forehead. You know what? Whatever. I just hope this nightmare ends soon.

* * *

So after everyone finished their meals (I was stuck with the check), we continued to follow Nagato and her date. Eventually, they made their way to a movie theater. We waited until they bought their tickets before we went in line. However, when it time to buy our tickets, we came across a problem.

"Which movie did they buy tickets for, Kyon?"

"How am I supposed to know? None of us were close enough to find out."

Haruhi frowned before looking at the ticket salesperson. "What movies are about to start?" There were three movies that were going to start soon, so we ended up buying tickets for one of them, hoping we would get lucky (I paid for them, too). After that, we bought some popcorn, soda and candy at the concession stand (also paid for by yours truly). After we went inside the theater we bought tickets for, we looked around for Nagato and the president. After failing to find them there, Haruhi took us back to see the manager and demanded that we have our tickets exchanged. After spending five minutes arguing with the poor guy, we were given tickets for a different movie, and we went into that theater...only to find that one wasn't the right one either. Finally, Haruhi just had us go into the last theater that we hadn't tried without bothering to switch tickets, stating that since we paid for tickets anyway, it didn't matter. I was too exasperated to care.

When we finally found Nagato and the president, we strategically positioned ourselves behind them, making sure not to be noticed. From where we were, we could easily see if anything were to happen between them.

In hindsight, we should have found out what the third movie was beforehand. It turned out to be a horror movie. Now I'm not saying that I was scared or anything. My real concern was for Asahina-san, who I knew would be terrified. Sure enough, when the scarier bits of the movie appeared, she would instinctively squeak in fear and start trembling before grabbing Koizumi's arm. Dammit! Stop getting all the action, Koizumi! You're pissing me off.

Of course, Haruhi was too busy eying our targets to pay attention to the movie, so their was no chance that she would grab my arm or anything like that. Aren't girlfriends supposed to get scared and hang onto their boyfriends for comfort and support during these movies? Isn't that the point of watching them? This is the worst date ever!

About halfway through the movie, Haruhi and I noticed that the president was attempting to put his hand onto Nagato's. Without hesitation, Haruhi grabbed a box of candy and threw it directly at him. It clocked him directly in the head.

"Ow!" he said before turning towards us. "Who the hell did that?"

Everyone ducked behind the seats before he could notice us. We waited a few minutes before peeking our heads out. He seemed to give up looking for who assaulted him, still rubbing the back of his head. It was a good thing the theater had plenty of people, or else we would've been busted.

Eventually, the movie ended, and we were forced to follow the two once more. I was still irked by the fact that Asahina-san was still holding onto Koizumi's arm, probably still traumatized by the experience. Koizumi seemed somewhat uncomfortable with her doing it, but I couldn't figure out why. If I had Asahina-san holding onto my arm like that...never mind. It should have been someone else who did that.

"Pay attention, Kyon," hissed Haruhi. By now, we were walking through a very familiar park, the same one where I met with Nagato the night she told me she was an alien and the one where Asahina-san told me she was a time-traveler. In fact, this place has been the center of a lot of weird things.

And tonight would be no different. Haruhi stopped us momentarily to pull something out of her bag. "Before we let them go home, I want to put that guy through a test!"

"What kind of test?" I asked reluctantly.

Haruhi then pulled out two ski masks. "I want you and Koizumi-kun to wear these and pretend to be muggers! I want to see for myself what that guy's true nature is!"

You've got to be kidding me. You want us to pose as criminals? Is this really necessary? Haven't we ruined their date enough? Even I'm starting to feel bad for the guy, and I was against him dating Nagato from the start.

Haruhi ignored me again and shoved the mask into my chest. "Put it on!"

I sighed and shook my head before putting the thing on. It was really fuzzy, itchy, and hot. It was the last thing I'd want to wear in the middle of a hot summer evening.

After Koizumi and I donned our disguises, we hurried away and tried our best to sneak around the couple. When we got into position, we waited until the two of them were close before we suddenly popped out.

I did my best to look menacing, even going as far as disguising my voice. "Give us your money!"

Koizumi just stood there in a formal manner, looking really out of place. "Yes, it would be in your best interest to give us all of your valuables. It would be a shame if we had to bring harm upon you."

Wow...Koizumi, you have got to be the worst thug in history.

Despite the fact that we were easily the least intimidating crooks of all time, the president immediately panicked and fell onto his butt. "Please don't hurt us!"

Even though I was supposed to be in character, I couldn't help but place a hand on my face when I saw that. I was beyond embarrassed now. Thank goodness Nagato didn't seem to care. All she did was tilt her head slightly, probably wondering what we were up to.

A moment later, the president suddenly remembered that it was his responsibility to keep his date safe. He gritted his teeth and stood up. "If you want to hurt her, you'll have to go through me first!"

You can't be serious. You're actually going to fight back? Face it, you're outnumbered and you have no chance to...

I didn't get to complete my thought before a fist collided with my nose, knocking me off my feet. It hurt really badly.

"Ow!" I screamed as I removed the mask and rubbed my nose. "That hurt!"

It was then that I realized that I'd blown my cover. The computer club president looked at me strangely. "Wait a minute. I know you!" He then looked at Koizumi, who by now was shaking his head in what must have been shame. After recognizing him as well, he started to look around the park suspiciously. "What going on here?"

It was then that Haruhi and Asahina-san popped out from behind a tree. Haruhi stared angrily at me. "Dammit, Kyon! You blew it!"

What do you mean I blew it? Doesn't the fact that he fought back mean he passed the test?

"I knew it!" said the president. "It just figures that you guys would try and ruin my date! Rotten SOS Brigade!"

"We were just making sure you behaved yourself while you were out with Yuki-chan!" said Haruhi. "The last thing we needed was for you to take advantage of her!"

"What?" he said, quite taken aback. "What would make you think that I'd do such a thing?"

"Have you forgotten what you did to poor Mikuru-chan? She's still traumatized by it."

"That was your fault!"

"I bet you still enjoyed it."

The president was really pissed off now. "That's it! The deal's off! I want my computer back!"

Haruhi shook her head. "Sorry, no refunds."

"That's ridiculous! You ruined my date! That should be grounds for the termination of our contract!"

"You know what they say. Let the buyer beware!"

After gritting his teeth a bit longer, the president sighed deeply before looking at Nagato. "I'm sorry. You're really great and all, but...your friends are crazy."

Hey, I take offense to that! Only one of us is crazy!

"As much as I'd love another date, if I'm going to be harassed like this, it's not worth it...not that you aren't worth it or anything, it's just that I have to think about my sanity here."

Nagato's expression almost seemed...disappointed? "...I see."

The president then looked back at Haruhi. "You'll pay for this!"

Haruhi responded by sticking her tongue out and pulling her eye-lid down. Real mature there, Haruhi.

The president stormed off. "Just you wait, you'll be sorry you messed with me! This will be the last time I get screwed over by you guys!" After that, he was gone.

Haruhi placed a hand on Nagato's shoulder. "Don't worry, Yuki-chan! You can do better than him!"

I had to admit that I had mixed feelings about what happened. I was relieved that Nagato was single again, and yet I still felt bad for the guy. I also was worried about the fact that despite our intentions, we didn't really take into consideration Nagato's feelings. When I thought of that, I started to feel really guilty. Did we really do the right thing? I had my doubts.

In any case, I also had to wonder what that guy meant when he said he'd make us pay. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

The four of us walked Nagato home before we split off our separate ways. I was completely exhausted after this ordeal and was hoping to go home and relax a little.

It was then that Haruhi made an annoying comment. "I can't believe you got beat up by that guy."

Hey! He didn't beat me up! He...he just caught me off guard.

"Sure," she said.

Hey! I could have taken him any time I wanted. Remember when I beat Koizumi in the mud wrestling tournament?

"You only won because you cheated."

I didn't break any rules, so it was totally legit! And what about the time I stood up to your dad?

"He beat the crap out of you!"

Ha! That's only because I didn't fight back. If I did, I totally maybe might have somehow landed a punch if the stars had aligned in my favor or something...I'm not a wimp!

"Oh well," said Haruhi with a sigh. "I didn't fall for you because you were tough." She then grabbed my arm and hugged it tightly. Finally, something about this evening I could enjoy!

After we walked for a little while, I could tell that Haruhi seemed to have some regrets about how tonight went. Just as we got to the street we lived on, she spoke up. "Maybe we should go on a real date tomorrow."

A real date, huh? That sounds like music to my ears! Too bad there was one major problem. "I'm out of money until my parents send me some more. Sorry."

Haruhi frowned a bit before speaking. "Fine, I'll pay."

Really? You're not just saying that are you?

"You're just lucky I'm not an old fashioned kind of girl. You seriously need to make more money!"

What do you expect from a high school student with no job? Money is hard to come by.

"Whatever. You just better come up with some really good ideas for tomorrow. If I'm going to pay, you better make it worth my while!"

"I think I can think of something."

It was then that we made it home. After we came in and took off our shoes, I greeted Oruki and Naru-san cheerfully. "Good evening."

"Back so soon, huh?" said Oruki. "How was your date?"

"It was hardly a date," I said.

"Sure it wasn't," he said as he went back to watching TV.

"Was it fun?" asked Naru-san.

"You could say that it was mission accomplished!" said Haruhi with a thumbs up. "Thanks to our efforts, Yuki-chan is safely at home!"

Naru-san giggled. "I take it that you two already ate?"

"Yeah," I said as I walked upstairs. "Have a good night!"

After that, Haruhi and I went upstairs and gave each other a kiss before we went into our rooms. I laid on my bed and grabbed a manga that I'd bought recently that I'd yet to finish. Just as I was almost done, I heard my phone ring. At first, I thought it was Koizumi wanting to talk to me about something, but I was surprised to find instead that it was my mother.

What she told me would terrify me more than anything I'd heard in months. She told me that she and dad would be visiting next week...

* * *

**Yay for more plot threads! What else could go wrong for poor Kyon? Guess we'll find out next chapter!**

**Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier, but thank you guy for filling out the Meet the Suzumiyas page on TvTropes. There's plenty more tropes to add, I'm sure, so if you guys want to keep going, be my guest!**

**See you guys later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's notes: Well, I'm finally back! How long has it been, almost EIGHT MONTHS? What the hell happened to me in all that time? Well, it's complicated.**

**First, I had started up a stay at home business that took up a lot of time and didn't really take off. Next, I came down with pneumonia, and was practically bedridden for two weeks. Then, I had computer problems that took me a while to fix. And all this was just within the first two month!**

**After that...well I don't have any excuses there. I guess that I had spent so much time not working on the fic that I found it difficult to want to work on it. It was a combination of writer's block and procrastination. I ended up spending a large amount of time watching YouTube videos and playing games like Skyrim and Star Wars: the Old Republic. I kept making excuses like "I need to reread the light novels first" or "I'm way too rusty now" or "I doubt anyone even cares anymore".**

**However, with every passing day, I realized that I was letting a great opportunity slip by. I knew I had a really good story to tell, and it would be a huge waste to not tell it. Finally one day, I got the inspiration I needed to continue. I'll explain what it is at the end of the chapter.**

**In any case, I suspect that a number of you have reread the last four chapters. If you haven't, I recommend that you do, as I'm sure you've forgotten a lot in the last eight months. Anyway, here it is, the next exciting chapter!**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

It was hot. Really, really hot. The kind of hot that sucks one's soul directly out of their mouth if they're not fortunate to have air conditioning. And lucky for me, my school lacked anything resembling an air conditioning system. It's times like this that I wished Cornelius Drebbel had managed to mass produce his idea for turning summer into winter. Air conditioning technology might have been advanced enough for this building to have it when it was built.

I turned around to look at Haruhi, who was also being beaten down by the heat. As I watched a drop of sweat roll down her head, I sighed as I took my notebook and started fanning her.

Haruhi blinked in surprise when she noticed the welcome feeling of a cooling breeze. Her expression was soon replaced with pure joy. "Yes! More! That feels so good!" She then raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you fanning yourself?"

"It wasn't working for me," I said. "Besides, it's the least I could do after what you did last Friday and yesterday."

Haruhi looked away from me. "Well, it's not like I had a choice. What kind of Brigade Chief would I be to not take care of my members?"

"So you didn't just give me special treatment because I'm your boyfriend?" I felt a little disappointed.

"Of course not! If it had been anyone else, I would have done the same! That being said, you being sick was very inconvenient! I had planned to reveal some important information during our meeting that day!"

"Better get to it today then," I said with a smile.

"By the way, Kyon. I want you to bring those two idiots to the clubroom!"

What? Are you ordering them to come? What if they say no?

"They won't! I know I can count on them since they don't have any lives! They'll be bored and itching for something to do!"

That's kind of a low blow, Haruhi. I mean, I'm sure it's true for Taniguchi, but from what I understand Kunikida is likely to spend his summer break studying...okay, so he doesn't have a life either. "Whatever. I'll ask them during lunch."

"Good! I'll make sure Tsuruya-san also comes, too. We'll need everyone to make it for my upcoming plan to work out!"

"I look forward to it," I said. I could picture it now; the whole Brigadewould go off somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, just like that island from last year. Maybe we'll go to the Kirishima National Park, and spend a couple days enjoying the hot springs there. The thought of enjoying the beautiful scenery there combined with having all the alone time I could ever want with Haruhi? Amazing~! That would be my idea of a vacation...so long as there aren't any volcanic eruptions to ruin the trip. It would just be my luck if that happened.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy my fantasy for long. At that moment, I was extremely stressed out, thanks to a certain announcement I got last Saturday evening. "I just hope that whatever your plans involve won't be ruined by what happens this weekend."

"Relax, I know you're worried about your parents visiting on Saturday. This won't be a problem."

"Aren't you worried about them coming over?"

"Why would I be? I've met your mom several times and got along with her fine." She then put a hand on her chin. "Now that I think about it, though, I've never met your dad. He was always working whenever I came to your old place."

"That's not a surprise. He's always been a bit of an absentee father, not that it ever really bothered me. I'm surprised that he's coming, too."

"Well, I'm sure he's worried about his son. He hasn't seen you in months, after all."

"I just hope they get along with your parents."

Haruhi appeared confused. "Why wouldn't they?"

...That's a good one, Haruhi. You almost had me there...except by now I should know better. You do realize that my parents are relatively normal people, right? They're the kind of normal that would probably be seriously put off by your family's bizarreness. I know you and your dad can fake normalcy for a short period of time, but I highly doubt your mom could. Saturday is going to be a disaster...

"I'm just glad I get to see your sister again," said Haruhi as she smiled brightly. "I miss her adorableness!"

And again, you ignore me. How do you do it? It's like some kind of super-power. Why are you the one who won the super-power lottery? So not fair...

* * *

It was now lunch, and I took my seat next to Taniguchi and Kunikida.

Taniguchi wasted no time in asking me annoying questions. "Where were you on Friday, man? You weren't skipping to get more study time, were you?"

"No, I got pretty sick," I said as I opened my obento."It's been a while since I felt so bad."

"Did you have to go to the doctor?" asked Kunikida.

"Thankfully, no. I got over it pretty quick. Too bad I probably bombed my make-up exam."

"What a waste," said Taniguchi as he stuffed some fried egg in his mouth. "If my dad wasn't such a hard-ass, I'd totally call in sick in order to get another day to study. How could you bomb it?"

"I just had trouble concentrating."

Taniguchi gave me a goofy grin. "I get it; you were missing your girlfriend, right?"

Dammit, I hate it when he sees through me. "It was just weird, okay?"

"Sure," said Taniguchi as he suddenly became serious. "Look, it's great that you two are getting along so well and all, but I feel I need to give you a little advice."

You are the last person on Earth I'd come to for advice on dating. I'd sooner ask a statue of Buddha than ask you anything related to the matter.

"Look, I know that things seem to be going pretty great between you and Suzumiya-san, but the one thing you shouldn't forget is that not very long ago, she dumped guys left and right. I'm impressed that you've managed to last as long as you have, but you shouldn't get complacent."

I swallowed some rice and smirked. "I'm not worried."

Taniguchi narrowed his eyes. "I'm serious, Kyon. Don't take what you have for granted. It could be taken away in an instant."

I continued to smile while I took another bite of my lunch. "After what happened yesterday, I'd say that things are just fine."

Taniguchi raised an eyebrow. "Why? What happened yesterday?"

Indeed, what _did_happen yesterday? Haruhi and I went on a date, and it was awesome. First, Haruhi and I returned to that movie that we were at while we were spying on Nagato and her date. This was largely because neither of us actually paid the movie any attention the night before, and we felt that we missed out on what was actually a pretty good movie. It was pretty scary, and although I knew Haruhi was pretty good at dealing with fear, I did not complain when she squeezed my hand a bit too tightly during some of the more intense scenes.

However, the best part of the whole movie was the fact that I DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT! It was a miracle!

Of course, if my date had ended there, I wouldn't have too much to brag about. After the movie ended, we went to a sushi restaurant where I was able to stuff my face to my heart's content. In hindsight, it was far from being the best sushi I've ever had, but since I still didn't have to pay for it, it was a million times better!

I would've been content to end the date there, but just as we had left the restaurant, Haruhi suddenly had a flash inspiration as she grabbed my arm and bolted up the street. At first I was completely confused and worried when I realized that she had that mischievous smile that always meant that she was up to something. However, when we arrived at the location, her intentions became clear. It was a hotel, one that had a mixed bath. Now I'm not too clear on this, but I think I had a similar smile to Haruhi's once I realized what was going on.

In typical Haruhi fashion, we ended up sneaking into the hotel. Whether this was because Haruhi was too cheap to pay or whether she didn't have any money, I couldn't say. Normally I would be against the idea of sneaking onto private property, but given the circumstances, I would've been insane to say no.

When I made it inside the changing room, I realized that I was about to be sitting next to my girlfriend with little more than a small towel to cover each of us up. I began to panic a little bit, as this was a lot further into our relationship than we had gone before. I started to wonder if there would be a lot of people in the bath, some of whom would be old perverts. The thought of them looking at my girlfriend really pissed me. I had almost decided to give up on the whole idea when I heard an enticing voice call out to me from behind the door.

To my surprise, the bath was empty with the exception of the two of us. I saw Haruhi sitting in the water on the other side, waiting for me. She had her hair tied up in a bun and was smiling coyly. I made my way towards her while doing my best to keep my towel on. I was both relieved and disappointed to find that she was still covered up with a towel under the water. However, both feelings quickly faded when I sat next to her.

After we both got over the awkwardness of the situation, we ended up having the best make-out session we'd had yet. No, I'm not going to tell you everything that happened, but I will say that we didn't go so far as doing "this or that". This was partly because we were caught by the staff of the hotel. However, I'm not really sure how far we would have gone had things happened differently. Even with the interruption, the experience was AWESOME, so much so that I really hated having it end.

Thanks to some fast talking by Haruhi, we were fortunate enough to not have the police called on us. Unfortunately, our date had come to an abrupt end. I would be lying if I said that we were both completely satisfied, but I was happynevertheless. It made me excited about the fact that I was going to have the whole summer vacation to spend with her. Sure I would probably have to spend a week or two with my family up north, but I'd still have nearly a month with her. I couldn't wait to find out what plans she had for our trip this summer. I feel like the luckiest man alive!

"You can say that again," grunted Taniguchi as he took another bite from some of his egg. "Fine, I guess you've made your point."

"I wish _I_ had a girlfriend," said Kunikida with an unusually high amount of melancholy. "The best experience I've had would be that mud wrestling tournament earlier this year."

"Speaking of which," I said, "Haruhi wants the both of you at our clubroom after classes are over."

"Really?" said the both of them in unison.

"Yep."

Taniguchi's excitement quickly faded. "Wait a minute. She's not going to force us to do anything, is she?"

"I have no idea."

"Look, it was awesome when she chose us to judge that mud wrestling thing, but most of the time when she asks us to come along, it has something to do with helping with her hair-brained schemes. If she expects me to do any work, you can tell her over my dead body."

"Suit yourself," I said, not even looking up from my lunch. I knew him well enough to know that he was all talk.

"I'll probably go," said Kunikida. "I know I said I'd help you guys out if I could. Unfortunately, my parents are pushing me into taking some classes over the summer, so I don't know how much free time I'll have."

"Seriously?" said Taniguchi, "I can't believe your parents are making you do that. You already have some of the best grades in our class."

"They keep insisting that it's for my own good."

I couldn't help but notice a small amount of weariness in his voice when he said that. Can't say I envy him.

With that, we finished our lunches in time for the fourth period to start. Even though we were still testing, this would be the last period for the day. I remembered that first year students were allowed to leave after third period and felt gypped. No, I couldn't be satisfied that the day was still shorter than usual. Thankfully, I was able to concentrate better on my tests today, so I felt confident enough that I at least passed this portion of my tests.

When we finished, Haruhi and I split up so that she could track down Tsuruya-san. While on my way towards the clubroom, I noticed that both Kunikida and Taniguchi were following me. Ha, I knew it; that idiot could never fool me! Along the way, I overheard him complaining about how hard the tests were. Damn, he's annoying.

When we arrived, I knocked on the door. However, we were politely told to wait a minute by Asahina-san, who was obviously still changing. When Taniguchi realized what was happening, his face became flush and his mouth hung open.

"Y...you mean Mikuru Asahina is changing in there right now?" He then had a dreamy expression. "What I'd give to be able to peek..."

I understand; I too would be willing to pay to peek at her changing...at least I would if I were still single. Nevertheless, while I'm around, you are strictly forbidden from performing such actions. I will beat your ass if I catch you.

Before long we were given permission to enter. We found ourselves greeted by our beautiful glamorous maid, along with Nagato, who only looked up at us briefly before looking back at her book.

"Oh, we have guests? I'll make sure to brew up some extra tea."

"Thank you very much," said Kunikida with a bow.

"Yeah, thanks ma'am!" said Taniguchi with a goofy expression.

"Oh, no problem," said Asahina-san with a sweetness rivaling that of the sweetest brown sugar. "This is my job after all."

"Kyon," said Taniguchi after placing an hand on shoulder. "Why didn't I join this club?"

Probably because you suck, and Haruhi knows it.

He narrowed his eyes. "Someone's getting a swelled head. Just remember that you're not all that special yourself."

You know, a year ago I might have agreed, but after all the nonsense I've had to deal with over the course of my time here, I've come to realize that if I wasn't at least a little special, I'd have gone insane by now. Granted, I still don't really get what is so special about me, but there is something I'm sure.

"Ah, I see we have guests," said a certain annoying esper's voice from behind me. "I apologize for not arriving sooner. Was I supposed to bring someone as well?"

"No," I said. "Just these two and Tsuruya-san. Haruhi's bringing her here as we speak."

Koizumi quickly took his seat. "I take it that Suzumiya-san wishes them to be involved with whatever she has planned for the summer?"

"Apparently."

"I'm sure that their assistance will be most helpful."

Before I could respond, the door burst open to reveal the last two missing party members.

"Hiyo!" said both Haruhi and Tsuruya-san almost simultaneously. It's scary how similar these two can be sometimes.

"Thank you for waiting, guys," said Haruhi as she gracefully marched towards the front of the room. As expected, her smile was gleaming with all of its million-watt brightness. "As I'm sure you can see, we have a few special guests here today. Thanks for coming on such short notice!"

"No problems!" said Tsuruya-san oddly. "I always have a blast when I hang out with you guys!"

"Great! Now that we got that out of the way, we can get down to business!" Haruhi then grabbed the conductor staff and pulled it all the way out. She then repositioned the whiteboard so everyone could see. "Okay, everyone. Listen up! As you all know, summer vacation is just around the corner. I'm sure some of you are already anticipating what activity has been planned for all of us to do. Last year, the Brigade all went to a lone island and solved a phony murder mystery."

Ah, the lone island. A wonderful getaway location, all provided to us by Koizumi and is esper organization. It was where I met Arakawa-san, Mori-san, and the Tamaru brothers. Good times. I wonder where we'll go this time. Man I really hope it's the Kirishima National Park! Come on~!

Haruhi continued. "While I admit that experience was a lot of fun, this summer I want to do something different. Instead of just going on a vacation, I thought we could do something more productive together!"

...Wait...what? You mean we're not traveling somewhere for our first week of summer break?

"Let me ask everyone. How free are all of you this summer?"

Everyone except me was looking at each other in confusion before answering.

"I might have to spend some time with my family abroad in early August," said Tsuruya-san, "but it should only be a couple weeks."

"I'm supposed to be taking classes in the evenings," said Kunikida, "but I should be available in the mornings and afternoon."

"I...I'm free," said Asahina-san.

"I'm expecting to see some relatives over the summer," said Koizumi, "however, since they'll be visiting my place, I should be available for whatever you need."

"I'm free," said Nagato without looking up from her book.

"Well," said Taniguchi, "I'd love to help you out with whatever you're planning, but I'm afraid my whole summer is totally booked."

"Good! You're free too then!" said Haruhi.

Taniguchi was left speechless for a moment before he frowned and looked away. Bullseye! Man, he's a bad liar.

"Great! That accounts for everyone!" said Haruhi.

Uh...I haven't answered you yet.

"Oh, quit it, Kyon! I already know that you don't have any plans!"

You don't know that! I could have lots of plans...maybe...

Haruhi slapped the whiteboard with the conductor staff. "It's settled then. This summer, we're all going to work together on the SOS Brigade's biggest project yet!"

PROJECT! You've got to be kidding me! Have you've lost your mind...again? I looked around the room, and with the exception of Tsuruya-san, everyone was looking less than excited. Clearly their reaction was no surprise. I mean, who would want to throw away their entire summer break on a project?

"May I ask what this project is?" said Koizumi.

"Excellent question, Koizumi-kun!" said Haruhi as she quickly opened up her bag and pulled out a large piece of folded up paper. After she unfolded it, I realized that it was actually a hand-drawn poster. She then taped the poster onto the whiteboard. Once she was out of the way, I read the message that was written in multiple colored markers:

"_**The Revenge of Nagato Yuki Episode 00"**_

...No...nonononononononono NO! This is a joke, right? One big elaborate joke that you came up with to mess with us. Yeah, that has to be it. It's not like she completely forgot how badly things went with the last movie. I'm sure she'll tell us "Fooled ya!" at any second now...

Haruhi slapped the poster with the staff. "We're going to be shooting the sequel to the movie we worked on last year!"

...any second now...

"I realized last year that it would be difficult to go through the whole summer without doing anything. There were some points where I started to feel like I wasted the whole summer doing nothing. However, I wanted to change that this year. By working on this movie now, we'll definitely be able to end our summer break with a real feeling of accomplishment!"

...she's not joking, is she?

Asahina-san nervously lifted her arm. "W...why are we going to work on it now instead of before the school festival?"

"Another good question! The main reason is because I realized that we didn't have enough time to do the shooting properly last year. We ended up having to rush the ending because we ran out of time. With the whole summer to work with, we'll have plenty of time to shoot all the scenes!"

I should have known better. Haruhi was always dead serious. My perfect summer was ruined!

Taniguchi raised his hand. "Hold on a second. I remember last year when you made me and Kunikida come along to work on your movie. We were only in one scene! Why'd you ask us if we're available all summer long? Are you giving us a bigger role?"

"Don't worry, you two will be given more screen time, along with some other responsibilities!"

"Wait, what responsibili-"

"Next question!" said Haruhi.

Asahina-san nervously raised her hand again. "W...will I have to wear that costume again?"

"Of course you will, Mikuru-chan" said Haruhi as she wrapped her arms around the petite maid. "It's a requirement for the character. Wouldn't you think it was weird if Sailor Moon fought crime without her sailor scout uniform?"

The main difference here is that...you know what, I'm too depressed to say anything. Forget it...

Tsuruya-san bounced up and down with her question. "Ooo, what's my role going to be?"

"Don't worry. You'll find out tomorrow. I'll have all the details by then! Anymore questions?"

Before anyone else could answer, there was a knock on the door. Who the heck could that be?

"Come in!" said Haruhi.

The door slowly opened to reveal a surprising sight. Standing at the doorway was none other than the extremely tall and imposing Student Council President. I also noticed behind him was the slim, fragile figure of the Student Council Secretary, Emiri Kimidori.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," said the SCP while pushing his glasses up to his face with two fingers.

"What do you want?" said Haruhi with a tiny amount of hostility. It should be noted that she was still holding onto Asahina-san.

"Is that any way to address your sempai?" said the SCP. "As always, your lack of manners is most embarrassing."

He then walked inside followed by Kimidori-san. I noticed immediately that Nagato's and Kimidori-san's eyes locked onto one another. This was no surprise as she was a human interface as well. I wondered what they were secretly telling one another.

"Who said you could come in?" said Haruhi.

The SCP scoffed. "As the Student Council President, I have the authority to enter any clubroom that I please. The Literary Club is no exception."

It was at this point that I turned towards Koizumi, who was happily smiling away as if enjoying a popular play at the theater. By now, I already knew that the SCP was nothing more than a pawn of Koizumi and his Organization. If the president's here, than that meant that Koizumi already knew why and what he was going to say. Just what the hell are you scheming, Koizumi?

"Well," said Haruhi, "you're obviously here for a reason. Spit it out already!"

"As you wish," said the SCP as he reached behind himself towards Kimidori-san. She removed a disk from a folder she was carrying and handed it to him. She never even took her eyes off of Nagato. Creepy.

He then held the disk up next to his head. "Do you know what this is?"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "No. What is it?"

"It may be in your best interests to find out," he said as he held it out.

Haruhi finally released her grip on Asahina-san and cautiously grabbed the disk. She eyed it carefully before looking back at the SCP. "What's on here?"

"Place it in your computer and find out."

Haruhi looked at the disk one last time before she made her way towards the computer. She placed the disk in the tray and closed it.

"You may wish to reposition the screen so that everyone can see," said the SCP. "Trust me when I say that it'll be of interest to them as well."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at him before reluctantly complying. "If this is anything bad, I'll make sure you regret it."

"You'll see soon enough."

It took a few seconds for the computer to run the disk, but once it did, the video player quickly turned on, giving us a view of a recording from what appeared to be a camcorder. It didn't take long for any of us to realize what was being recorded. Right before our eyes was the whole field for our school, completely covered in mud.

It was footage of the mud wrestling tournament we held only a couple months back.

"Oh god!" said Taniguchi as he watched it. His expression was a mix of terror and excitement.

Kunikida wasn't doing much better. He was covering his mouth while staring at the screen.

Tsuruya-san started laughing hysterically. "You've got to be kidding me! I can't believe we all did that, nyoro!"

The SCP scowled at us. "What I cannot believe is that all of you would have the audacity to hold such a disgraceful and distasteful activity on school grounds. How you managed to hide it from the school officials is a mystery. Clearly, security needs to be stepped up here."

Haruhi was completely silent during the whole video. She watched like a hawk before it swooped down on its prey. The video itself zoomed in to show the action up closer, giving clear shots of everyone involved: the entire Brigade, Tsuruya-san, Taniguchi, Kunikida, even Sakanaka-san. Each of our faces could be seen in the recording, despite the picture quality being somewhat crappy. We were busted. Completely and totally screwed. If this was one of those visual novel games, then we were about to get the "Bad End" ... too bad I wasn't actually worried.

On the contrary, I was very much enjoying what was on the screen. It reminded me of all those pleasant memories of seeing four beautiful women battling it out and getting dirty in order find out who was the best of the best. Good times. And no, I do not remember when I was forced to dress like a girl and battle against Koizumi. That memory was completely deleted from my mind...except for the fact that I beat him!

"As you can see," said the SCP, "I have all the evidence I need in order to annihilate your pathetic Brigade once and for all. After I show this recording to the school officials, you'll be lucky if any of you escape expulsion."

Both Taniguchi and Kunikida screamed and backed into the wall, pale as a ghosts.

"Y...you wouldn't," said Taniguchi.

"M...my parents would kill me!" said Kunikida.

"You should have thought of that before you participated in such an act." said the SCP with absolute coldness.

Haruhi, without saying a word, stopped the video and removed the disk from the computer. Then in an explosion of anger, she snapped the disk in half in her hands, causing small fragment to fly all over the room. Careful with that! You'll take out someone's eye!

"You're wasting your time," said the SCP. "If you think that was my only copy of that footage, you're seriously underestimating me."

Haruhi dropped the pieces of the disk and rushed up towards the president, grabbing him by the jacket. "Where's the rest of it?"

The SCP smirked. "Like I would tell you. Why would I when I have you right where I want you."

Haruhi stared at the SCP intensely, as if hoping that her stare could intimidate him into doing her will. He didn't back down, however, and so she eventually calmed down and she closed her eyes. "Fine then. What are your demands?"

The SCP raised an eyebrow. "Demands?"

"Yes, demands! If your goal was to ruin my Brigade, you would have already turned this in! Obviously, you want something!"

"How very perceptive, Suzumiya-kun," said the SCP as he grabbed her wrists "Mind letting go?"

Haruhi reluctantly complied and backed away a couple steps.

"Indeed, I have a proposition," he said as he readjusted his jacket and tie. "By now you should know that I'm a man with many resources, and I know how to use those resources. As I'm sure you're aware, I enjoy the position that have as head of the Student Council. I have used my position to enact a number of policy decisions that I feel have improved the school environment for our students. However, it has recently come to my attention that my decisions have been...polarizing. While many students have agreed with my policies, other less...cooperative students have found my approach to be overbearing. They preferred the old council's policy of overlooking a number of violations of the school rules."

"What's your point?" said Haruhi, clearly unimpressed.

"My point is that I'm up for reelection this November during the next school festival, and while it's still perfectly possible for me to win, with such polarizing opinions coming from the students, my election campaign is still at risk. I prefer not to take any chances."

"So you want to use the Brigade's publicity to aid your campaign?" said Koizumi. "A clever plan you've come up with."

Liar! I'm quite sure that the one who came up with this plan is you.

"There is more," said the SCP. "You see, while our students are on break, they slowly become complacent. They become too used to a lifestyle without school, and so when they return, their moral is at an all-time low. I wish to do something about that."

I heard Tsuruya-san struggling to keep herself from laughing. Did she realize just how ridiculous this whole scenario was? I wouldn't doubt it. After all, it was like something out of a bad shoujo manga.

"My plan is relatively simple..." He then stood in a dramatic pose, like that of an evil villain revealing his evil plan. "I will hold a concert for the whole school the day before school break ends...and you will be the ones who will set it up!"

A concert? That was your whole plan? Really? I turned towards Koizumi, who continued to smile annoyingly. What the hell were you thinking? Why did you go through all the trouble to set this up when you knew Haruhi already had plans? Did he not know, or did he assume that her plans were different? Ugh, I don't get it.

"A concert, huh?" said Haruhi with a smirk. "Interesting idea."

"I'm glad you agree," said the SCP as he began to encircle the room. "I heard not long ago that several members of your Brigade had experience with musical instrument. Is that true?"

"So even you know about our musical talents, huh?" said Haruhi.

No doubt Koizumi already told him about the time when Haruhi tried to turn the Brigade into a band. I was reminded of that stupid interdimensional worm that made it so that we heard that one song Haruhi had composed over and over again. I'd love to have that happen again.

"Your talents will be adequate," he said. "I will also expect you to find a venue to hold your concert, as well as take care of the financing and promotions for it."

"In other words, you expect us to do everything," said Haruhi. "Why can't we just use the school auditorium?"

"The school would not allow me access to it over the summer. They also would not allow me to use school funds to pay for it. Even my authority has its limits. However, I still fully intend to overcome my current limitations."

Wait a minute, we have to pay for this concert, too? "Hold on! How do you expect us to pay for all this?"

"Is that a problem?" said the SCP. "I figured with your capacity for...fund-raising that you would have no difficulty coming up with the money to pay for everything."

Dammit, I should have known that stupid mud wrestling tournament was going to bite us in the ass.

"And what happens if we refuse?" asked Haruhi. "We already have plans for something to do over the summer, like shooting the sequel to the firm that we made for last year's school festival."

"Really?" said the SCP in a way that subtly showed that he wasn't expecting that response. He eyes quickly darted towards Koizumi, as if waiting for a line. Koizumi moved his head and lips so lightly, silently and quickly that no one would have noticed him if they weren't paying attention. However, the message was somehow conveyed, and the SCP regained his composure. "You're still intent on resisting me, even after I have you in this position? You are most stubborn, aren't you?"

"Of course. Six weeks is a lot of time. Maybe we could just hunt down all of your electronic devices and remove the video from all of them." She then pointed at Nagato. "Yuki-chan here is a master with computers. She could totally do it!"

"I'm well aware of the capabilities of Nagato-kun. Which is why I've already passed the file along to a number of other members of the Student Council. Even with your skills, you would never be able track them all down before summer was over. And even if you did, you'd still have to track down the original donor."

Haruhi got in his face. "Who is it? Who's the guy who gave you that footage?"

"The donor's name was anonymous. Even if I did know it, it would be strictly confidential. Seems to me that you have more enemies than you realize."

Haruhi had a look of deep thought, as if trying to figure out who it could be. I already had a pretty good idea as to who it was, if indeed it wasn't Koizumi himself.

"Face it, Suzumiya-kun. You have no choice but to comply with my wishes. It's either that, or you must face expulsion!" He then pulled out a business card from his jacket and handed it to Haruhi. "I expect to be informed of your progress over the course of the summer."

Haruhi stared at the card for a few seconds, as if studying every detail. She then placed that card in the pocket of her skirt.

The SCP turned around and headed for the door. "Have a wonderful summer break."

"Please!" screamed Taniguchi as he ran in front of him and got on his knees. "You can't tell anyone else about this! My dad will hang me if this got out!"

The SCP coldly ignored the idiot's plea and stepped around him. "Come, Kimidori-kun."

The human interface finally snapped out of whatever trace she was in with Nagato and followed the SCP out the door. She was even polite enough to close the door behind us.

A full minute passed by with no one saying a word. Finally, Haruhi moved swiftly towards the door, opening it with a great deal of force. I was sure to follow her.

"Where are you going?" I said.

"To meet with a certain someone."

It didn't take long for me to realize that she was heading right for the computer clubroom. Ah, so she figured it out too, huh?

A second later, the door swung open as the Brigade Chief marched right towards the president of the Computer Club. She immediately grabbed him by the collar. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" said the club president, obvious feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb! I know it was you! You're the one who gave the Student Council President a video recording of the mud wrestling tournament, right?"

He turned away smugly. "I don't know what you're talking about?

"Lair!" said Haruhi as she pulled him closer.

"I don't know why you would think it was me. It could have been anyone. After all, it wasn't like the security there was any good."

Haruhi gritted her teeth. I could see her clenching her fist.

Worried that she could get violent, I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go. If he did do it, then it's our fault for pushing him into it." He did say that he'd get us back for ruining his date, and we never did return the computer.

Haruhi looked at me before taking a deep breath and letting him go. She then darted out of the room. Worried about what she might do next, I quickly apologized to everyone for disturbing them before running back to the clubroom.

As I got there, I saw Haruhi grabbing her bag. "It seems that we've come across some complications everyone. I have some thinking to do, so I want everyone to return here tomorrow." She then bolted out of the room without even saying a word to me. She's not mad at me, is she? What did I do?

After Haruhi left, Taniguchi and Kunikida slowly made their way out of the room, looking like professional baseball players who just lost the World Series. I sure hope that this development doesn't prevent them from helping us out this summer. I could sure use the extra help.

After they were gone, I made a motion to Koizumi indicating that I wanted to speak to him privately. We made our way towards the roof of the school, an uncomfortable silence between us. When we finally made it, I turned around and grabbed him by the shoulders. "What were you thinking?"

Koizumi smiled at me as if he was expecting this reaction. So annoying! "I know what you must be thinking. If Suzumiya-san already had plans ready for the summer, then why did I come up with this elaborate plan involving the Student Council President? The answer has mostly to do with what happened at the end of last summer."

It didn't take me long to remember what he was talking about. The last two weeks of summer, we were stuck in an endless time loop, repeating the same activities over and over all because Haruhi was dissatisfied with how the summer ended.

"As you can imagine," said Koizumi, "it would be very problematic if such an event were to happen again this year. Surely you must realize that anything that could be done to prevent it from happening again would be the best for everyone."

If I recall correctly, you weren't a very big help back then.

"Yes, that is true," he said, rubbing the back of his head, "and I've regretted that fact greatly, knowing that my incompetence was a major reason why we repeated those events so many times. This is my way of rectifying that."

"So your plan is to make Haruhi so busy over the summer that she couldn't possibly reach the end of it without feeling satisfied?"

"Precisely."

"What about the movie? Wouldn't that be enough to keep her busy and prevent her from screwing up time again?"

I noticed a small amount of embarrassment on his face. "True, it would be. To be honest, I wasn't expecting her to reveal plans to work on the movie all summer. I only expected her to announce a trip much like we did last summer."

That's understandable. I was thinking the exact same thing. Dammit, this sucks.

It was then that I heard some chuckling nearby. When I looked around a nearby corner, I spotted the Student Council President, his glasses nowhere to be seen and with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"Sorry, did I interrupt you guys?" said the real SCP. The guy that came into our clubroom earlier was just a facade. He pretends to be a cold, calculating villain type in front of Haruhi in order for her to feel like she has a challenge. However, whenever she wasn't around, this guy would let his real personality shine through.

"That was quite a performance you gave," I said.

"Was it?" he said as he took a drag from his cigarette. "I think I'm getting better at it every day. Did you see how those two guys responded when I said I'd turn that video over? I almost busted out laughing!"

"You didn't look like it," I said. "Must say that I'm impressed."

"And did you see that pose I gave when I revealed my plan? How corny can you get?"

"I must admit," said Koizumi, "you had me going when you did that. I don't believe that part was rehearsed."

"I was in the moment," said the SCP as he finished his cigarette. "I still can't believe I did that. The only time I messed up was when that idiot-girl said that she might refuse. I wasn't expecting that."

"You recovered well enough," I said, feeling slightly annoyed at him calling my girlfriend an idiot. Only I'm allowed to do that!

"That's right! You two are dating now, right?" He then laughed out loud. "I can't believe it."

"I'm glad you think it's funny," I said.

He waved his hand at me. "I'm sorry, it's just funny how things work out."

"Speaking of which," I said as I turned towards Koizumi, "how do you expect things to work out with this whole concert thing? Seems to me that you guys just made things more complicated."

"I would disagree," said Koizumi. "I believe this situation will be beneficial for Suzumiya-san."

"How so?"

Koizumi place a finger on his nose and walked around me. "You see, by introducing this dilemma to her, we've given her the opportunity to test her leadership ability. Very rarely does she every have to make a difficult decision where she has to sacrifice one goal in order to accomplish another. This experience will allow her to grow as both a leader and a person."

"How do you know that this won't end in disaster?"

"I...don't really, but I've learned to never underestimate her. I'm sure that she'll come through for us."

Of course, no matter what decision is made, it means that I'm going to have to spend the entire summer working. I hate my life sometimes.

I then had another thought. "What if she chooses not to do the concert? What will you do then?"

"That'll be easy," said the SCP. "If I remember correctly, that movie you guys made had commercials in it, right? I'll just force her to put some kind of campaign commercial in there."

"Good idea," said Koizumi. "That way, we'll be prepared no matter what decision Suzumiya-san makes."

"One last thing," I said. "What happens if we fail to put this concert together, or fail to finish shooting the movie? Wouldn't that cause Haruhi to loop time again?"

"We'll be prepared for that contingency this time around. If worse comes to worst, I'll use the resources of the Organization to aid us in any way possible. I'm also sure that Nagato-san would gladly aid us this time. She's...nowhere near as cooperative with her superiors as she used to be, and I'm sure that she would not wish to go through that experience again."

I took a deep breath, feeling relieved that things were under control. "Good. Then I guess it's all up to Haruhi then."

"Indeed," said Koizumi as he started walking towards the door. "I'm sure that Suzumiya-san is wondering where you are, so you better get home soon."

"Yeah," I said as I started to follow.

"Me too," said the SCP as he got off from the wall. "Time to go back to work."

It was then that I had an idea. I turned towards the president. "Hold on a second. You don't happen to have another copy of video on you, do you?"

The tall, dark-haired man blinked for a second before smiling and grabbing something from his jacket. "As a matter of fact, I do? Want it?" He then pulled out a disk and handed it to me. "It's a back-up copy in case something happened to the first one."

ITEM GET! With this beauty, I'll be able to watch the girls mud wrestle whenever I want! I'll even be able to watch the match between Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san that I missed because Haruhi forced me to look away in order to put make-up on. Of course, I only want to watch it because of the action...yeah, that's what it was. In any case, I'd have to wait until no one was around before popping this baby into the computer at home...speaking of which...

After thanking the guy for the disk, I quickly made my way back to the clubroom. By now, the only one still left inside was Nagato, and she was about to leave.

"There you are," I said to her. "I wanted to talk to you."

She looked at me and nodded her head slightly.

"Yeah, I just wanted to apologize for what happened the other night. In hindsight, it was wrong of us to follow you two like that."

"I see," she said, as if she was not sure on how to respond.

I looked at the floor and rubbed my neck. "Look, if you want to keep going out with that guy, or anyone else, you're free to do so. You don't need my permission or anyone else's, especially Haruhi's."

"I see."

It was hard to tell, but I think she might have been happy that I said that. Now came the really awkward part.

"N...Nagato, I'm afraid I have a favor to ask of you."

"What?"

Man I felt bad asking her to do this after all that happened in the last couple days. "Could you come over to our place and help fix the computer? Haruhi's mom went and downloaded a few viruses the other day, and it hasn't worked right since."

Nagato nodded subtly. "I see. I will assist you."

I felt a huge amount of relief. Thank goodness that the Great Goddess Nagato was very forgiving. I'm not so sure if I would have done the same myself.

We both left the school and made our way towards my home. A part of me had wondered if maybe Haruhi would be standing outside waiting for me, but when I got outside, she wasn't there. Guess she really is mad at me. Can't wait to deal with that when I get back.

It didn't take long for the two of us to make it back to my house. When I did, I found Oruki and Naru-san sitting peacefully on the couch watching TV.

"Oh, we have a guest!" said Naru-san as she got up. "Nagato-chan, right?"

"Yep," I said. "I brought her over to fix the computer."

"Wonderful!" she said with her hands clasped together. "I'll go get you two something to drink."

While she went into the kitchen, I guided Nagato to the computer. It wasn't long before she was working away at the keyboard, typing at speeds no ordinary human would be capable of. It didn't take long for both Naru-san and Oruki to look intently at her as her fingers flew.

"What...what the hell am I looking at?" said Oruki before looking away in disbelief. Even after two months, he still couldn't get over the fact that I hung out with such weird friends on a daily basis.

"Wow!" said Naru-san. "She's awesome. Will I be able to do that someday?"

No. No you won't. What Nagato is doing is not normal. I doubt that even a savant could match her ability.

It only took about ten minutes before she was done. She probably could have done it in seconds if Haruhi wasn't here. "I have removed all traces of malicious software from this device. I have also installed a number of countermeasures that should ensure that security of this device in the future.

I sighed in relief. "Good." Now I can put that disk in later whenever I get the chance.

"Yay!" said Naru-san. "Now I can go anywhere I want on the interwebs!"

Naru-san, it's called the internet. Internet.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" said Naru-san.

Nagato nodded lightly, accepting her offer. I was glad Naru-san asked. It was the least we could do.

I noticed Oruki looking back at us, especially Naru-san. After a few seconds, though, he turned away. I also noticed that Haruhi never once came down to see us.

"Did Haruhi make it home?"

"Yes she did," said Naru-san. "I think she's up in her room. Why do you ask?"

Yep, she's mad at me. "Don't worry about it. I'm going to get changed." I then went upstairs and into my room.

I was surprised with how exhausted I was when I started changing. A lot of it had to do with my disappointment over Haruhi's decision to do a Brigade activity all summer long. My dreams of sitting next to Haruhi in a hot spring down south were now crushed.

Just when I was about to put my shirt on, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was outside my window. When I looked directly at it, it quickly moved back onto the roof. What the hell? I felt a small amount of fear when I realized there was something on the roof. I cautiously opened my window to investigate. I didn't get a good look at it, so I wasn't sure what it was. Half of me was screaming to go down and get Nagato, but for some reason, I convinced myself that if was serious, she would already be up here.

Just as I poked my head out, another head popped down from above.

"Boo!"

I screamed and leaped back. It was only when the head in front of me started laughing that I realized who it was.

"That wasn't funny," I said.

"Yes it was," said Haruhi, her hair once again hanging cutely upside down.

It was then that I noticed something. "What a minute. How did you get up there?" If I remembered correctly, the block of wood we used as a step was no longer there thanks to your dad forcing me to remove it.

Haruhi pointed towards the door. "Take a look."

I stuck my head out the window to see. Sure enough, a new piece of wood was now in place of where the old one used to be.

"I went down into the basement when my father wasn't around and created a new one."

"And your father hasn't noticed?"

"Not yet," she said with a wink. "You want to come up here?"

I felt extremely relieved. I guess she wasn't mad at me after all. "Yeah, sure."

I left my room and snuck into Haruhi's. I then climbed out of the window and onto the roof before taking a seat next to my girlfriend. It sure was nice to be up here again.

"I was worried when you left without me," I said. "And also when you didn't come down."

"Sorry about that," said Haruhi. "I just needed some time by myself to think."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"Well, I'm not exactly happy with you. It was your fault that someone snuck a camcorder in."

How is it my fault? If I recall, you were also in charge of seating people at one point. How do you know he didn't sneak it past you?

"Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway," she said. "It's not like placing blame will solve anything."

"Yeah," I said before trying to change the subject. "Anyway, were you thinking about what we're going to do for the summer?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you just do the concert? It's not like we have a choice, right?"

Haruhi frowned. "I don't want to."

"Why?"

She sat up and looked at me directly. "Because I really want to make the sequel to our last film amazing! You know how it is where almost every movie sequel sucks compared to the original? I mean, why is that? How hard could it be to make the sequel better than the original?"

Is she saying that she could make a better sequel than most of Hollywood? Of course she is.

"I started doing a lot of research on how I could make our sequel the best movie ever. I realized that last year we were working with a skeleton crew, and that really limited our options for things like lighting, props, sound design, and all kinds of other stuff! Having Koizumi-kun hold the reflector board made it so that we couldn't use it whenever he was on camera. We didn't even have proper stunt doubles, so we ended up forcing Mikuru-chan to do her own stunts. In Hollywood, something like that is too dangerous. If she got hurt, the movie could be on hold for weeks, even months! It's not like she's Jackie Chan, you know?"

I was impressed. It sounded like she was really learning from the mistakes she made last time we did this. That would explain why she wanted the help of Tsuruya-san, Taniguchi and Kunikida. An actual film crew would make it infinitely easier for everyone, especially me.

"We'll even have a ton of time to work on post-production! I was really impressed with what you were able to do with only one night! Just imagine what you'll be able to do with more than two months! We'll be able to put effects into the film that will rival any big budget movie!"

Uh, yeah. Considering the fact that I didn't actually do the editing and special effects the last time, I'm pretty sure my attempts to create anything convincing on the computer will end in abysmal failure. Speaking of which, I never did find out who did the editing on the movie after I passed out. I hope they're able to help again...

"Besides," said Haruhi, her voice softening, "We're not going to get another chance to make this movie."

"Why not?"

"Don't you remember? Mikuru-chan is a senior now. She graduates at the end of March of next year. I want to miss out on being able to do this with her. She's done so much to help the Brigade out, and I know that I'm going to miss her when she's gone. I want to have this movie as something really special that we all worked on together, so that we can all look back on it with pride and nostalgia."

I was really touched by what she said. It's so easy to forget that Asahina-san wasn't going to be with us during our last year of high school. I had already wondered what would happen to her when she graduated. Whether she would go back to her time, or move onto college, I had no idea. I guess I'd find out later. In the meantime, it would be nice to try and create some more fond memories while we still could. A year can pass by pretty quickly, after all.

"What do you think I should do?" she asked.

I was taken aback by her question. She almost never seriously asked for my opinion. It took me a few seconds to figure out what I wanted to say.

"Neither. You should instead plan a nice trip to Kirishima National Park for a week so that you and I can spend our time sharing a natural hot spring. Then for the rest of the summer, we should go out on dates every chance we could get and have a grand ol' time. That would be perfect."

...That was what I should have said. Unfortunately, I was feeling kinda stupid that day, so I actually said this:

"Whatever you want to do, I'm behind you one hundred percent."

"Okay," she said as she looked back up into the sky.

Why? Why did I say that? Am I really a glutton for punishment?

We both lied on the roof watching the clouds for a while. It was really nice, just the two of us. Moments like this were among my favorite.

However, the moment was broken when she spoke again. "By the way, don't think I don't know that Yuki-chan is here."

"Oh, yeah. I brought her down here to help fix our computer. Your mother asked her to stay for dinner, too."

"I figured as much. That's why I'm not mad. However..." She sat up and moved her face close to mine. "...the next time you bring a girl to this house without my permission, you'll be in big trouble, mister."

"Is that so?"

"Yep."

"Well, the same goes for you. You're not allowed to bring guys here without my permission, either."

She moved closer towards me. "Ha, what makes you think that I'm interested in ordinary men?"

"So you're only interested in extraordinary men?"

"Yep."

I moved in close enough to her to feel her breath on my lips. "What does that make me? Am I extraordinary?"

"Nope, I don't find you interesting at all."

"Liar," I said as I moved in to kiss her a passionately as I could. Our embrace lasted like this for a good two minutes before I released her. I'd even forgotten that we were outside where all the neighbors could see us.

That moment of intimacy reminded me about something. "Listen, there's something I wanted to talk about." I then felt my face getting warm. "You know...about us."

She put a finger to her lips. "We'll talk about that later."

"Are you sure?" I said, feeling confused. Does she know what I'm talking about?

"I'm sure. Right now, we should go and check on Yuki-chan. It's kinda rude of us to leave her alone. Besides, I'm sure dinner will be done soon."

We then both got off the roof and went through her window.

"You do realize that your dad will kill us when he finds out about that step."

"Not if I can help it," she said as I watched her remove the piece of wood from behind the drainage pipe. She then hid it under her bed. "Let's go."

We both snuck out of the room and made our way down the stairs. When I made it into the living room, I was surprised to find Nagato sitting next to Oruki on the couch watching television. Her eyes seemed glued to it, as if it was the first time she'd ever seen anything like it. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen her watch TV before. It was almost funny watching her sit so motionlessly towards the screen. I also noticed that Oruki was somewhat uncomfortable sitting next to the human interface. Don't worry. She doesn't bite … most of the time.

Dinner was ready a few minutes later and the five of us sat at the table and ate. With Nagato sitting with us, the speed in which our food disappeared increased to a record pace. Naru-san and I weren't even halfway done by the time the other three were finished. After Haruhi and I finished cleaning up, we bid Nagato farewell. It was nice having her over. I felt better about what happened last Saturday now that we spent some time with her.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, as Haruhi decided to spend the rest of the time in her room studying and thinking. I ended up doing some last minute cramming as well, since tomorrow was going to be the last day of tests. After I had enough, I changed into my pajamas and went to bed.

I still had no idea as to what we were going to do for the summer, and worse yet, I still had to contend with having my parents come over this Saturday. Not only that, but I still didn't hear anything about that weird thing that came out of my nose. Did Koizumi or Nagato find it already? No, they would have said something if they did. Nevertheless, I was starting to realize just what I was in for over the course of summer break.

Unfortunately, I had no idea how bad it could really get...

* * *

**How was that? I hope it was worth the wait (I doubt it). Hopefully it won't be another eight months for the next update!**

**As for what finally got me off my ass to work on this again, I recently stumbled upon something awesome. There's a community forum site called the Voice Acting Alliance. While looking around there, I spotted a thread that was dedicated to my original fic, _Meet the Suzumiyas_. It turns out that a member named Hardharkoopa decided to create an audio version of the fanfic, and he even held auditions. Can you believe it? How awesome is that? I can't wait to hear each chapter finished!**

**While I can't type the web address here (as has a tendency to remove all web addresses), I recommend that you type "Meet the Suzumiyas" and "Radioplay" into Google. You should find it right away!**

**I also want to mention that the _Meet the Suzumiyas_ fansite is no longer up. The content to the site was lost when the web host upgraded their servers, and Medz (the guy who built the site) couldn't find the backup. However, I have plans to hopefully have a new site up at some point. Sorry to everyone who tried to visit the old site. :(**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. It's been way too long. I hope you guys aren't mad at me. Adios~!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes: I'm happy to see that many of you guys are still on board with this fic, even though it was on hiatus for such a long time. I'm also glad that the last chapter was well received. Hopefully, this one will be, too.**

**Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."

Those are the famous words of physicist Niels Bohrs. According to him and many others like him, the quantum world is pretty much indescribable using human language. Things happen to particles at that level that defy our understanding of cause and effect. The whole idea of a particle/wave duality is so beyond what happens in everyday normal reality that indeed no person could ever hope to truly understand any of it except mathematically.

However, I can at least think of one exception.

To Haruhi Suzumiya, the quantum world makes perfect sense. Never once would she be "shocked" by what happens at the quantum level, and it wouldn't be because she didn't understand it. If anything, she'd probably understand it better than the physicists that were trying to teach her. I'd imagine her saying things like "Of course beams of light can be waves and particles at the same time! Whoever said that they couldn't be so talented?" or "So what if you want know the position of a particle and the direction it's going? That's because particles are smarter than we are!" or even "Well of course Schrödinger's cat is both 100% alive and dead. It's a zombie cat now, duh!" I could keep going.

What I ultimately mean by all this is that Haruhi's brain does not work like that of most, maybe even all other people. Heck, I'm willing to bet that entire new physics could be written based on the study of her brain, with things even more bizarre than that of the quantum world happening every nanosecond. It's a miracle that she functions as well as she does, really.

So why do I bring all of this up? Well, it's rather simple. It's because her warped brain often causes her to make decisions that no rational human being would ever make. When confronted with the choice between _**a**_ and _**~a**_, she will choose _**z**_ even if such a choice was literally not available. And somehow, she will make that choice a reality, even if she has to drag the entire universe with her to do it. There is no way to talk her out of it. You can tell her the facts, bargain with her, beg and plead with her, it doesn't matter. The only way to stop her was to wait until she was bored and wanted to do something else. That was it.

You would think that I would have fully understood this by now, given the amount of time I've been with her. However, there are times where I get complacent and forget who I'm dealing with. Koizumi keeps telling me that her brain thinks more normally on the inside than one would assume, but there are times when I discover that he is wrong. I mean sure, not every single decision she makes is irrational and nonsensical. However, the fact that her brain occasionally creates the illusion of proper functionality is what leads me to my greatest downfall, which is expecting a rational response from her to a tough situation. Damn, I suck.

The reason that I went into this tirade will become apparent soon enough...

I was awoken violently this morning by an obviously distressed Haruhi.

"Hurry up you idiot!" she said as she pushed on my back with as much force as possible. "If you don't wake up now, we're going to be late for school!"

Ow, stop that. What happened to our early morning snuggles?

"There's no time for that! We're running late!"

"We are?" I said as I looked at my clock. Crap! We have less than a half hour until classes start! What happened?

"Never mind that! Just get dressed as fast as you can and get going!" She then bolted out of my room.

After a huge yawn, I slowly got up and walked to my closet. Even in my drowsy state, I realized that it was pretty rare for Haruhi to oversleep. My guess was that she was up until late at night trying to figure out what to do for the summer and forgot to set her alarm. That's not surprising. I guess if I had to pick one or the other, I'd have a hard time, too.

I had only just gotten my pants on when Haruhi opened my door, already fully dressed. "Hurry up! Could you be any slower?"

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" I said as I grabbed my shirt. "I just woke up."

"Of course you did! You'd sleep all day if it weren't for me!"

I probably would, too, not that I'd admit it.

"You know," she said, "it would be really nice if you'd wake me up for a change."

"If I did, could I use the trick pen?" I said as I finished buttoning my shirt. "Or stuff a hot pepper in your mouth?"

Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "To even joke about such things is considered treason, Kyon! The idea that you'd consider harming your girlfriend like that is unbelievable!"

Hello pot. This is the kettle.

"Don't call me a hypocrite! It's different since you're a guy!"

"Well, I'm glad that you support traditional gender roles," I said as I put my tie on. Especially when they're convenient for you.

"Whatever, you're dressed now so let's go!"

It sucks that I'm not going to get any breakfast this morning. I love taking tests on an empty stomach. The only saving grace was the fact that the school day was short again. Hopefully, we wouldn't have to spend too much time in the clubroom before I could go home.

We only had enough time to say good morning to Haruhi's parents before we were out the door. I even forgot my wallet, which meant that I couldn't even get lunch at the school cafeteria. We were forced to jog, seeing as it was the only possible way we could get there on time. I was once again reminded of just how inferior my athletic ability was compared to my girlfriend's. About halfway there, I had to stop and rest. The rest of the way, I was constantly badgered into moving faster, even though we both knew I wasn't capable of it.

"Come on, Kyon! I thought all that exercise with my dad would've put you into better shape?"

"Why do you think I lasted as long as I did?" I said inbetween a large breath.

"We won't make it at this rate. Come on!"

I summoned the last of my strength and willpower, and I managed to jog the remainder of the way to the school, although I did collapse in front of my shoe locker when I got there.

"See?" said Haruhi, who was only mildly winded. "I knew you could make it."

Can't talk...need oxygen.

"Don't be too long. If you're still late after making it this far, it'll be a waste."

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I finally gained the strength to stand up.

By the time I switched my shoes, Haruhi was already long gone. I made my way into class with only seconds to spare. Yes, safe! I took my seat and readied myself for the last day of testing. No doubt that jogging to school without eating first and wearing myself out would effect my performance. Can't wait to show my mother the results...

* * *

A few hours later, it was lunch time, and I was miserable.

"Forgot to bring a lunch again, huh?" said Taniguchi.

"Haruhi and I overslept, so I didn't have time to make one."

"It's rare for Suzumiya-san to arrive so late," said Kunikida. "Did she not sleep well?"

"Apparently," I said. "She was probably up all night thinking about what to do for the summer."

"Speaking of which," said Taniguchi, "listen, I'm going to have to back out of whatever it is you're doing."

"Huh?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I sure whatever it was you guys were going to do was going to be great and all, but if it means getting myself expelled, I can't do it."

Kunikida reluctantly spoke. "I...I'm also going to have to back out for the same reasons. I have way too much on the line to throw it away, you know?"

I sighed deeply. The two were completely unaware that they were never actually in any danger of expulsion. Unfortunately, I couldn't explain to them why it was that they weren't. They wouldn't believe me, anyway.

"Trust me, you guys have nothing to worry about."

"What makes you say that?" said Kunikida.

"Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that the Student Council President is all talk."

"No way," said Taniguchi while he swallowed some rice. I noticed a piece of it sticking to the corner of his mouth. "That guy has a reputation for being ruthless! Did you hear about the president of the Mystery Study Group? He was caught using only a measly 200 yen of his club's annual funding on something that wasn't club related, and the Student Council President forced him out of the club and had him suspended for a week! I'm telling you, that guy means business! Even Suzumiya-san won't be able to get her way with him!"

It figured that the SCP was so notorious. That would explain why he was worried about the next election. However, that wasn't what bothered me. If Taniguchi and Kunikida were going to back out, that meant that I would have to do all the hard work on my own. Sadly, being Haruhi's boyfriend has not reduced my responsibilities within the Brigade. The last thing I wanted was to carry several dozen kilograms of equipment around by myself. I could usually get Koizumi to help, but having four people would be ideal.

Fortunately, I'd suspected that this would happen, so I came mentally prepared.

"It's fine," I said. "You guys don't need to come."

Kunikida blinked. "Really? You're okay with that?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," I said, keeping as straight a face as possible. "It's just too bad that I'm going to have to explain to Asahina-san, Tsuruya-san and Nagato that you guys won't be coming."

"Huh?" said the both of them.

"Yeah, they told me yesterday after you guys left that they were glad that you guys were helping out. They'll be disappointed, I'm sure."

"W...wait a second," said Taniguchi. "Maybe I was being a bit too selfish after all. I mean, if they really needed my help that badly, it would be pretty unmanly of me to back out."

...That was way too easy. Damn that guy was an idiot.

However, Kunikida was a bit more reluctant. "I...I don't know. It's a really big risk that we're taking."

Dammit, Kunikida. I need your intelligence to balance out Taniguchi's stupidity. I'd probably pull my hair out if only Taniguchi came along.

Fortunately, Taniguchi helped me out on this one. "Listen, man. Did you hear what he said? All three of those hotties want us to help them out. That's halfway towards a confession already. And since Kyon-kun here is already taken, we won't have to compete with him. That means that there will be equal amounts of girls and guys! Come on, you've already told me that you've been wanting a girlfriend."

Kunikida blushed deeply. "I...well..."

It was all I could do not to laugh. Like either of these two ever had a chance.

Taniguchi wrapped his arm around Kunikida and held his other hand outward. "It'll be a beautiful summer romance. And since it'll happen over the summer, we won't have to worry about getting beat up by other classmates that also wanted their affections. It'll be perfect!"

Kunikida swallowed hard. "A summer romance..." He then said something else under his breath. I couldn't make it out, but I thought it was a specific name. He then looked towards me. "Okay, I'm in...but you have to promise me that I won't do anything that'll get me in trouble."

"Sure," I said, even though I already knew it was a lie. Anything involving Haruhi was at least going to be on the edge of being legal. Still, I figured that even if it was the case that we did something that could get us in trouble, I had enough connections to see to it that the two of them weren't causalities...at least I hoped I did.

I spent the rest of the lunch period staring at the food that those two were eating. Sadly, neither of them were generous enough to share. When I got back to testing, I found it extremely hard to concentrate with all the hunger pangs I was feeling. A part of me wanted to blame Haruhi for oversleeping, but the fairer part of my mind knew that I should be able to get out of bed on my own. Damn, this was annoying.

* * *

With the last period finally over, Haruhi and I made our way towards the clubroom. I noticed that she seemed in relatively high spirits despite all the set backs in the last couple days.

"So...did you finally decide what we're going to do?"

"Yep! Don't worry. I'll tell you when everyone is there."

I sighed as we reached the door. I noticed that Asahina-san came with Tsuruya-san at about the same time.

"Hey guys!" said Tsuruya-san.

"Hey," I said. "Excited?"

"You bet! I'm really hoping that we're doing the movie! I had a blast the last time we did it!"

"Well, as long as you and Haruhi don't plan on getting Asahina-san drunk again, I'll be happy to have your help."

"Oh, don't worry. I've learned my lesson!" She then leaned in towards me a little too close. "Are those two other guys still coming?"

I leaned back a bit. "They said they would. They were reluctant, but I managed to talk them into it."

"Great!" she said as her eyes darted behind me. "Oh there they are!" She then ran by me and up to Taniguchi and Kunikida. "Hey guys! Glad you're here!"

"Don't worry, Tsuruya-san," said Taniguchi in his smoothest voice possible. "We know that you and the other girls were looking forward to our help."

Tsuruya-san tilted her head. "Huh?"

Kunikida bowed politely, his face a shade of red. "W...we're here to help."

"That's right!" said Taniguchi as he gave her a thumbs up. "We won't let you down!"

"Great!" she said as she turned around and bolted into the clubroom.

By now, Haruhi and the others had already entered, and they were closely followed by Taniguchi, Kunikida and myself. When all of us had taken our seats, Haruhi stood upon her chair.

"Greetings everyone! I'm happy to see that everyone has returned!" Her smile quickly faded. "Unfortunately, you were all witness to an attack against the SOS Brigade made by none other than the Student Council President! We have been at war with that him and his evil organization since the day we founded the Brigade over a year ago. Back in March of this year, he laid siege to our Brigade by attacking Yuki-chan and the Literary Club! However, thanks to the efforts of everyone here, including those of you who aren't official members, we were able to repulse his onslaught!"

Does she really have to use such dramatic language? It's not like we're in a war movie or anything.

"However, after we successfully defeated the Student Council in that battle, we set our sights on a different enemy, James Randi! In order to fund our campaign against such a diabolical fiend, the Brigade was forced to hold that mud wrestling tournament! Thanks to the success of that fundraiser, we were able to successfully defeat James Randi as he entered our home territory!"

You're still calling that embarrassing scene a victory? And if I recall correctly, the real reason we went to Kyoto was so that you could have an elaborate excuse to confess to me. In hindsight, that confession was a great moment. However, I definitely wouldn't consider your confrontation with a man in his eighties a high point for the SOS Brigade.

"Unfortunately, just as we've repelled our most recent enemy, the Student Council has returned to attack us at our flank! It's a pincer attack aimed at crushing us once and for all!" Haruhi then stepped off the chair and began to walk around the room. "I know what you must be thinking. 'How can we possibly win this battle,' am I right?"

No, you're not right. Can you just get to the point, already?

"In desperate times like these, there is only one thing we can do! We must engage our enemy head on!" She then slammed her hand onto the table. "We're going to do this concert of his AND do the filming for the sequel at the same time!"

...what?

"That bastard wants to ruin the Brigade's plans for the summer in order to further his agenda! Well, we're not going to give him the pleasure! In fact, we're going to use this concert against him! We'll just make it all about the SOS Brigade! We'll be so famous and popular among the students of North High that the Student Council President would surely lose his bid for election if he turned in that footage to the school officials! Heck, we could even find a way to combine the movie with the concert in some way! It'll awesome!"

Yes...awesome...that's what it'll be...

My face landed onto the table. I felt so drained that I half-thought that I was going to pass out. Just as I was getting mentally prepared to have my summer ruined, I find out that it was about to become even worse. What was she thinking? Is she some kind of sadist? Why would she be so willing to throw away so much of our summer break doing all these activities? Doesn't she want to spend a little bit of time with just me and her? I don't get it!

I turn my head to the side to look around the room. The color had been drained from a number of other people's faces, including Koizumi's, Asahina-san's, Taniguchi's, and Kunikida's. I couldn't blame them. Haruhi was going overboard.

"If there are any objections, you have the next five seconds to write them all down! After that, I will consider everyone in unanimous agreement!"

I doubt that even if I had 5 minutes that I could successfully write down all of my objections. No one else even bothered to say anything.

"Excellent! Now that we have our plans for the summer prepared, I will spend the next week and a half getting things ready for both the movie and concert. Yuki-chan, can you fork over the budget for the Literary Club? We'll need it for some new costumes!"

"Go ahead," said Nagato.

"Great," said Haruhi as she bounded over to her bag. She opened it and pulled out a small stack of papers. "Here is the cast and crew list for the movie! The roles for Yuki-chan, Mikuru-chan and Koizumi-kun are the same, but as promised, the rest of you are getting larger roles!"

We carefully glanced at the paper given to each of us. The cast list went like this:

**_Cast_**

**_Mikuru Asahina – Battle Waitress Mikuru_**

**_Itsuki Koizumi – Itsuki the Esper_**

**_Yuki Nagato – Yuki the Evil Alien Witch_**

**_Tsuruya – Tsuruya the Evil Corporate Baroness_**

**_The other two – Tsuruya's Minions #1 and #2_**

**_Film Crew_**

**_Haruhi Suzumiya – Ultra Director, Executive Producer, Screenwriter_**

**_Kyon – Assistant Director, Assistant Producer, Cameraman, Post-production Editor_**

**_The other two – Lighting, other menial tasks not done by Kyon._**

I sighed after I finished reading. Seems like Taniguchi and Kunikida were on double duty. Not that I minded. Their help was going to be greatly appreciated. It was one of the few things I was grateful for.

"Are there any questions regarding the cast and crew list?" said Haruhi. After noting that there were none, she started gathering her things. "We will have a special meeting at my place a week from Friday! In that time, I expect all of you to complete your summer homework! Last year, some of you waited until the last day to do all of it. That is unacceptable behavior! I want all of you to have it done so we don't repeat what we did last year!"

"What?" yelled Taniguchi. "We only have a week? There's no way I could get it done in that time!"

"Relax," said Haruhi. "The first thing we'll do during our special meeting is go over our summer homework together. However..." She gave both myself and Taniguchi a nasty look. "...I will not allow you to copy my homework, so you better have at least put some effort into it."

Yay, summer homework. Something else to worry about. I mean, it's nice that I'll have Haruhi's help, but I definitely wasn't looking forward to it.

"Koizumi and Tsuruya-chan, I also want you two to look for possible venues to hold our concert. I know that the both of you are well connected, so I'm expecting results by the time we have our special meeting!"

"Of course, Suzumiya-san," said Koizumi in an obviously forced manner.

"No problems, nyoro~!" said Tsuruya-san.

"Great! That's everything! I look forward to our special meeting the Friday after! I'll see you all then! Meeting's over!" She then started walking towards the door. She stopped after opening it and turned around. "By the way, regular Brigade members are still expected to meet here for the rest of the week! You guys better not think about skipping any of them!" She then left, leaving the clubroom a pit of despair.

Taniguchi hung his head backwards in his chair. "Damn, man. This summer is going to suck. I'm not even sure if it'll be worth it." He then slowly got up, along with Kunikida and Tsuruya-san, and left the clubroom.

Outside the door, I heard Tsuruya cheering. "Did you read it? I'm going to be a villain! That's megas awesome!"

I sighed deeply. Glad she's happy. I wonder if anything could get that girl down.

However, the moment the filler trio were out of ear shot, I turned towards Koizumi and grabbed him by the shoulders. "This is all your fault!"

"Y...yes, it seems so. I was not expecting her to choose such a difficult option."

"I thought you said that you'd learned not to underestimate her. What happened?"

Koizumi sighed. "I did, didn't I? Perhaps I still have much to learn."

That's it? That's all you have to say for yourself? My summer is going to be hell because of you!

"It's okay, Kyon-kun," said Asahina-san, who was clearly feigning calmness. "I...I think we'll be fine."

I looked at her incredulously. Come on! We know you're lying! Surely you haven't forgotten what happened during the last movie. As much as I love her, I'm still not convinced that she won't make things difficult for us.

Koizumi smiled at her. "It's good to see that you're prepared." He then looked at me. "Perhaps we're also being a bit pessimistic. After all, Suzumiya-san's emotional state is at the most stable it's ever been."

"That's never stopped her from causing trouble. The last time we worked on a movie, it almost lead to disaster. Let's not also forget what happened when we tried to create our band."

Koizumi stared at me briefly before taking a deep breath, pinching his chin in thought. "Perhaps you are right. We should not be so naive as to think that there wouldn't be unforeseen difficulties for us to overcome. It is indeed Suzumiya-san's nature to create obstacles for us."

I sat back down and placed my face into my hands. Dammit, she can be such a pain. I wonder what it'll be this time. Another ear-worm monster? A giant snowstorm in the middle of August? Perhaps some mole-creatures will burrow out of the ground and declare war on the human race. I can't wait.

"I will be ready," said Nagato as she closed her book.

I was surprised to hear such a statement from Nagato. It was rare for her to speak unless she was asked a question. "Do you have some kind of plan?"

"No," she said. "Ever since the event that took place six months and twenty-six days ago, I have been unable and unwilling to synchronize with myself in the future. As a result, it is impossible for me to accurately predict upcoming events. Without accurate information about the future, planning is impossible."

That's right. The event she's talking about was the one where she stole Haruhi's powers and changed the world. Since then, Nagato stopped synchronizing, telling me that cutting herself off from the future has allowed herself to retain her autonomy, giving her freedom, or at least the illusion of freedom. Still, every once in a while, it'd be nice to know what's going to happen.

"The other interfaces can still synchronize, right?" I said. "Can't we ask them what will happen?"

"It is unlikely that they will cooperate. They are designed to observe. Interference with future events is strictly prohibited."

Great, so much for that idea. "So how can you be so confident?"

Nagato paused a bit. I notice her eyes lowering ever so slightly. "My statement is based only on inferential information." Her eyes came back to meet mine. "However, the situations that we all have had to overcome were all of a great magnitude of seriousness. I do not believe it is irrational to conclude that we are capable of handling similar problems and events in the future."

"Indeed," said Koizumi. "I agree with you. If Suzumiya-san did not believe we could do this, she wouldn't have given us this burden."

Being capable of handling it and wanting to handle it are two different things.

"Y...yes," said Asahina-san. "I...I know in the past that I haven't been able to do much to help, but I really want to do my part! If enduring my role in the movie is the most I can do, than I have to give it my all!"

Oh Asahina-san! You must really feel out of place with Nagato and Koizumi around. Don't worry. Your role as Brigade mascot and tea brewer has always been enough for me.

"Excellent," said Koizumi. "Then I believe we're all in agreement. We're going to do everything in our power to make both this movie and the concert a success!"

I didn't agree to that! Don't put words in my mouth!

"I will go home and make some arrangements with the Organization. I'm certain that we'll be able to find a suitable venue for the concert. I'll keep in touch in case we run into any problems."

And with that, everyone left with a feeling of boosted confidence, with the exception of me. I began to feel like Atlas, having to hold the world on my shoulders, only worse since the size of the planet had inexplicably grown three sizes. First, I had the results of my test coming up, which I was sure that I botched. Next, my parents were coming down to visit me and Haruhi's family, and if, by some miracle, my mother didn't kill me for my lousy test scores, the disaster that would likely happen when they find out how weird the Suzumiyas are will make me wish I was dead. Then, Haruhi and I would spend the next week doing our summer homework, which was going to so boring that I feared that I might hang myself. After that, we'd spend the next five weeks working on both a movie and concert at the same time. And these were all the problems that I KNEW I was going to have to deal with. Who knows what else could happen in that time.

I could deal with all of this if only I could have some occasional alone time with my girlfriend, but from the way things were working out, I wouldn't even have that! This was ridiculous! I'm a healthy teenage boy! I have needs, dammit!

When I exited the front entrance to the school, I was surprised to find someone waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" said Haruhi.

"I didn't think you'd wait for me."

"Why wouldn't I?" she said, looking somewhat insulted.

"Well, you didn't wait for me yesterday."

"That was different! Like I said, I needed some time alone to think. I'm okay now."

"Oh...sorry," I said as the two of us began to walk off. "I was just talking with the rest of the Brigade. I was worried that they might be down about having to work so hard on two different projects over the summer. It turned out that I was one that got the pep talk."

"See? I knew that they could handle it!" she said with a smile. "I think you're too quick to underestimate them sometimes, especially Mikuru-chan."

"Can you blame me? It's not like she's ever been all that tough."

"She's tougher than you think. Think about all that I've put her through over the last year. I'm sure I would have lost it if I'd have had to go through that."

If you acknowledge that you've been really hard on her, than why don't you stop?

"It's the role of the leader to push his or her followers to their limits. Mikuru-chan has passed my tests with flying colors, which is why I made her my Deputy Vice Chief."

If you only knew why she's had to endure, you'd think twice about all of it.

Haruhi began to pout. "I just wish that you had half the spirit as the rest of the Brigade. And you wonder why you were the one that needed a pep talk."

"Yeah," was all I could respond with. The truth was that I was feeling rather upset with the recent turn of events, and I realized that I needed to talk about it sooner or later. However, I was worried that I would end up starting a fight over it, and the last thing I wanted was to make my situation more complicated by upsetting her, too.

It was only when we were about halfway home that I found the courage to speak up. "Haruhi, wait!"

She turned towards me with her eyebrow raised. "What's up?"

"There's something I need to talk about...about us."

"What about us?" Her expression was a mix of confusion and worry.

It took me a second to find the right words. "Look, I can understand that you want to do some great things with the Brigade this summer, but I can't help but feel like that it's going to get in the way of a lot of other stuff. I was really hoping that...we'd have more time for us to do things...just the two of us."

Haruhi crossed her arms. "I told you that my role as Brigade Chief comes first."

"So what?" I said, my anger level rising a little. "Just because the Brigade comes first doesn't mean that you and I should come last! Is it really too much to ask that we could at least spend a little time alone together?"

"We're going to spending our first week of summer break together doing our summer homework, aren't we?"

"No, not like that! I mean something more special, like what happened during our last date!" I then got a bit nervous. "I mean...I want to...go further than that."

"I told you that we'd talk about that later."

"No! We're going to talk about it now!" It should be noted that I was loud enough for passersby to look at me weirdly. "If we don't talk about it now, we're not going to get the chance until it's too late!"

Haruhi was stunned, not that I'd really blame her. It's rare for me to be like this. She closed her eyes and blushed a bit. "Fine. We'll talk about it now...what do you want to say?"

My mind drew a blank. Frankly, I hadn't actually thought this far ahead. What would we talk about? It was actually really hard to come out and say it. This was made all the worst by the fact that I was now aware of the ridiculous situation we were in. Hint to anyone reading this, talking about this subject matter in the middle of a public street is considered very bizarre behavior.

After some effort, I found the words I wanted to say. "I'm ready to be a man...and I'd like to know if and when you're ready to...take our relationship further."

Haruhi's blushing grew a bit deeper. "Well, like I've said before, I am a young healthy woman...and of course I think about these things, too. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"When we went on our last date, the way things went while we were in the hot spring...I liked what we were doing. It was really great. So great that I started to think that maybe I could do that sort of thing everyday and forget about everything else that mattered to me. That kinda made me worry, you know?"

"That won't happen. I know you better than that."

"Maybe, but this is kinda new to me, and I'm not really sure how I'm going to behave." She then looked deeply into my eyes. "It's kinda scary."

My heart rate was skyrocketing. It was extremely rare to see her this vulnerable, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. I was lost in her beautiful amber orbs.

"Then I remembered that wish you wrote on Tanabata, and I realized that there was nothing to worry about. I knew that there was plenty of time for us to reach that level. I figured that when the time was right, when there was nothing that could get in the way, then we'd be able to be together like that."

"I'm not waiting sixteen years."

"Oh, no. I don't want to wait that long either."

"When then?" Please give me a reasonable answer.

Haruhi began to think. "W...well, at the very least, I think it should wait until after everything we're doing this summer. The both of us are going to be so busy that we can't afford to have any distractions."

It was then that I was hit with a massive amount of inspiration. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I grabbed her by her shoulders. "Then it's decided! On the last day of summer break, we will do it, but only under the following conditions!" I then let go of her shoulders and took a step back. "We must successfully shoot all the required scenes for the movie and perform the concert in front of every student in North High. We must be met with thunderous applause from everyone!"

Haruhi stared at me with what must have been bewilderment.

I then pointed my finger into the air. "If and when those conditions are met, then and only then shall I finally become a man!" I then pointed directly at her face. "And you will become my woman! That's right! On August 31st, you and I will do 'This and That'!"

And I was done. By now, there were more than a dozen strangers staring at the two of us, one of which seemed a little too interested in what we had to say. Go away! You're ruining my moment!

Haruhi stared blankly at me for what must have been almost a minute. Then, slowly, her face began to crack. Before long, she had doubled over and was laughing hysterically. Hey, stop that! I'm being awesome right now!

"You are," she said when she finally was able to. "That's why I'm laughing." She laughed a bit longer before regaining her composure. "You were like some kind of shonen manga hero."

"Is that a bad thing?" I said, feeling a little hurt.

"No, it was great," she said as walked up to me. "There's that spirit I was talking about earlier. It's too bad that it required something so stupid to get it to come out. Dummy." She then flicked my forehead.

"Ow!" I said while rubbing my forehead. "What the heck?"

Haruhi ignored my complaint and grabbed my tie, bringing my face close to hers. "It's a deal then. You better be prepared on that night, okay?"

I'm prepared now. Hell, I've probably been prepared for years.

"That's not what I meant, dummy." She then flicked my forehead again.

"Ow! Okay, I get it."

"Good. By the way, be careful about acting so cool in front of me like that. It's going to be really hard waiting this long as it is." She then pulled me towards her and kissed me deeply. I had to admit that this was a WAY better pep talk than the one I got earlier.

It was while we were kissing that I felt something small drop onto my shoulder. When we stopped, I turned to look at what it was. It was a small drop of some dark, slimy substance. I instinctively touched it and was repulsed. "Ew."

Haruhi looked at what was on my fingers and shoulder. "What is that?"

"I don't know," I said as I looked up. The only thing I saw was an overhanging branch that seemed to have recently died. The tree it was attached to was still alive, so it was a bit odd. I didn't see anything else.

"Must have been bird poop. Birds can be so inconsiderate sometimes. I wish that they'd evolve the ability to only poop on things that nobody cares about."

Birds don't evolve around the idea of taking human considerations into account. If I was a bird, I'd probably poop wherever I wanted. It's not like a human could possibly catch me without a gun, which no one in this country has.

"We should get going," said Haruhi. "You didn't eat lunch, right?"

"Oh, right?" I said while following her. I was so worked up that I'd forgotten that I was starving.

* * *

When Haruhi and I returned home, she immediately went upstairs to get changed. I decided not to do that until after I'd eaten something. I went into the kitchen only to find Naru-san looking at what appeared to be some kind of paperwork with a pen in her hand. When she noticed that I was in the same room, she attempted to hide what she was looking at. "Oh, welcome home, Kyon-kun."

"Was I interrupting something?"

She looked away nervously. "N...no. This is nothing. Don't worry about it."

It was painfully obvious that she was hiding something, but I decided not to ask further. Whatever it was that she was doing was her business.

I then walked up to the cabinets and opened them. However, I was shocked to find that they were surprisingly barren. Usually when we were short on food, either Haruhi and I, or Naru-san would go out to get more food.

"Did you forget to go shopping?"

Naru-san's face became a shade paler. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I...it must've slipped my mind."

"I could go out and do it if you'd like." Although it sucks that I'd have to wait to eat.

Naru-san began to look around nervously. "Oh...well, you see, Oruki-kun must have forgotten to go to the bank to get some money, so I don't have any to give you yet."

I sighed. I already knew how terrible a liar Naru-san was. Heck, only a couple months ago, she was practically incapable of lying. A two year old could tell what was going on. "It's okay, Naru-san. I understand if money is a little tight this week. I still have a little money on me. I'll do the shopping."

Naru-san stood up. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"It's okay," I said while waving my hand. "It's the least I can do."

"But you've done a lot for us, too," she said before lowering her voice. "Not to mention all of your work saving the universe and stuff."

"That's volunteer work," I said. "Besides, since I'm hungry, I'm going to go out anyway."

Naru-san looked at me reluctantly. "Okay...I'll write up a list." She then grabbed a piece of paper and began to write down a shopping list.

It was then that Oruki came in. "What's going on?"

Naru-san's eyes widened when he entered. "I...I'm sending Kyon-kun shopping."

Oruki narrowed his eyes. "How's he paying for it?"

"I'm paying for it with my own money," I said. "Is that a problem?"

Oruki looked at me a bit angrily. "Absolutely not."

"Look, if it bothers you that much, just take it out of my rent."

"That's not the point!" he said. "I don't need your charity! We're fine! I'm going to take care of it!"

Dammit, this guy was stubborn. Was it really that big a deal that I buy them food once in a while? "Look, I'm hungry. I don't feel like waiting. I'm going out to do some shopping, and I'm going to buy myself some food and put it in the cabinets. If you feel like buying some of it from me later, then that's fine." I then started walking out of the kitchen.

"Wait, Kyon-kun," said Naru-san as she quickly jotted down the rest of the list. "Here!"

I grabbed the list from her and walked out of the kitchen. I noticed that Oruki was extremely irritated. However, I knew he wouldn't beat me up over something like this. He was just letting his alpha-male pride get in the way.

I went into my room and grabbed my wallet. Just as I was leaving my room, Haruhi walked out of her's. "Where are you going?"

"Your mom sent me shopping," I said. I figured it was best not to worry her about her parents' financial issues.

"I'll come with you," she said as we walked downstairs. After putting our shoes on, we left for the nearest grocery store.

The rest of the day went by normally. After Haruhi and I finished our shopping, I ate a really nice lunch and relaxed in my room. It was overall a decent day, although it was hampered by all the troubles I knew I was going to face.

In less than four days, my parents would arrive. I had no idea as to what I should expect the day they arrived.

* * *

**Sorry that there was another setup chapter. It's a lot of work building up all of the problems that Kyon will have to deal with. Aren't I a nice guy?**

**In case you're wondering, yes, Kyon's parents will finally make their appearance next chapter. Don't get too overexcited, as Kyon's parents are supposed to be relatively normal. There will be some other surprises in store next chapter as well. I'm looking forward to writing it!**

**I believe I had a review asking if it was me commenting on Danbooru. Since the review was anonymous, I can't respond privately, so I have to do it here. Yes, it's probably me. Hopefully, I didn't say anything too embarrassing.**

**I also want to mention that I recently got my nephew into reading _Meet the Suzumiyas_, and he's been enjoying it so far. No doubt when he catches up with the series that he'll be pestering me for updates, so I'll have even more reasons to keep going. I can't wait to hear what he thinks.**

**Anyway, I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon. Bye~!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's notes here: Well, I'm back from another hiatus. Unlike last time, where a series of unfortunate events got in the way, the main reason why I've been gone for so long was because I moved to Florida and started a new job. For a while, I was working seven days a week and was way too tired to do anything after work. It also didn't help that I'd gotten into a confrontation with another popular fanfiction writer that seriously knocked my confidence down.**

**However, things have changed for me, and I've since recovered my confidence. I also have a lot more free time now, so I decided to go back to writing this story. I severely apologize for the delay. I'm working hard to improve my work ethic, and I hope that this will be the last hiatus this story goes on.**

**Oh, and I know that this is long overdue, but I wanted to thank Gotonis for pointing out a minor plot hole in the last chapter. It was a bit of an embarrassment, but I'm glad it's fixed.**

**Anyway, I plan on working harder than ever to improve my writing skills, so don't be afraid to give constructive criticism. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint, even those it's been so long overdue.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Today is the day. After a whole week of waiting, I was finally going to see my parents and little sister, and I was absolutely terrified. The reason for this was not because my parents were terrible people. Far from it. Instead, it was because they were normal.

There was no way that they were going to get along with Haruhi's family.

Heck, I was barely able to get along with the Suzumiyas for the first couple weeks. It was only after the circumstances involving that monstrous thing in the back of that grocery store that Oruki started treating me like a human being. True, I always got along with Naru-san, but there was a brief period after discovering her eccentricities that I didn't want to be around her. It was only when I realized that she was a genuinely nice person that I ignored her weirdness. My parents wouldn't have the luxury of getting to know either of them along enough to realize that they were decent people...well, Oruki's only half-decent.

The only hope I had was that all three Suzumiyas would fake normalcy long enough to fool my parents. Considering the fact that I knew that Naru-san lacked the common sense to do so, that meant that I could only rely on Haruhi and her father. Strangely enough, Haruhi was the only one that I wasn't worried about at all. I'd seen her mask her eccentric behavior before, so I knew she could do it. Oruki, however, just needed to keep his temper in check. That shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, what could he possibly get mad at while my parents were here?

As you've probably guessed, I didn't sleep very well the night before.

It wasn't until I felt the sensation of my girlfriend snuggling beside me that I even started to wake up.

"Good morning, Kyon. Today's the big day."

"Don't remind me," I said in a nearly inaudible mumble.

Haruhi pulled on my earlobe a bit. "Don't be like that. I'm sure your parents miss you a lot. Your little sister, too."

"They're not the ones I'm worried about."

She sat up. "Why are you such a pessimist? Your parents are going to get along fine with mine. You have nothing to worry about."

You're wrong. I just know it.

Haruhi started getting off my bed. "Well if you're going to be like that, then I'm giving another second of snuggling."

No! Come back! This was going to be the highlight of my day!

"No." she said as she walked out of my room. "You better not let my parents know that you feel this way. They'd be upset for sure."

Yeah, that would be just what I needed.

It was another hour before I finally woke up enough to get out of bed. Today was the first day of summer break, and I could already tell that it was insanely hot outside. If it weren't for the air-conditioning in the house, I'd probably be melting by now.

Yesterday, I'd received the finals grades for my tests, and I had mixed feelings about them. I was fortunate in that they were slightly better than my usual grades, but I was still disappointed because I'd really hoped that I would have been able to ace them given all of the studying that Haruhi and I did together. I just hoped that my mother would accept my scores without getting upset.

After getting dressed in a red short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts, I made my way downstairs to greet the Suzumiyas. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Kyon-kun!" said Naru-san as she cooked breakfast.

"Yo," said Oruki while reading his newspaper.

Haruhi didn't acknowledge my existence. Great, still mad at me. It's not my fault that you lack enough sense to understand my position. If you did, you'd totally understand why I'm worried.

"Worried about what?" said Oruki, looking at me.

"N...nothing."

"Oh, I'm sure Kyon-kun's just anxious about his family coming today," said Naru-san.

"Oh yeah," said Oruki as if he was doctor being reminded to see his next patient.

I was nervous that Haruhi was going to spill the beans as to why I was worried, but I was fortunate that she seemed to want to spare her parents' feelings. She still didn't look at me, though. Dammit, you better not be like this when they get here.

Breakfast went by normally, and before long, I was cleaning up the table. Meanwhile, Haruhi went upstairs, and Oruki went into the living room to watch some TV. Naru-san was nice enough to dry off the clean dishes and put them away.

"I heard from Haru-chan that you have a really cute younger sister. That that true?"

"Yeah," I said, "although I think that I'm the only one who doesn't find her all that cute." I hear all the time about how so many guys wish that they had a cute younger sister, but trust me, it gets old fast. After you get over the cuteness, what's left is annoyances, like whenever she took my scissors without asking. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love my sister, but the idea of doting over her like she's a doll or something is just creepy. And let's not even talk about those bastards who are a little too into underage girls! Damn perverts!

Naru-san was giggling. "It sounds like you miss her a lot."

"Yeah, I guess I do. Although I don't miss how she'd wake me up each morning."

She chuckled a bit more. "Haru-chan's done a good job of taking her place, I bet."

"She's getting better," I said with a smug smile.

Naru-san put her hand in front of her mouth. "Ohhhh. I see~!"

Damn! Didn't expect her to pick up the subtext so easily. "W...what are you talking about?"

Naru-san patted my back. "I'm not surprised. It's only natural for young lovers to find ways to be with one another." She then stared into space with dreamy eyes before she began to twirl around the room.

After a minute, she stopped suddenly and look at me seriously. "Wait a second, what if Haru-chan got pregnant?"

"W-what?!" I said, almost falling over. "N...no! It's not like that! We haven't gotten that far yet!"

Naru-san blinked at me for a second before sighing in relief. "Thank goodness. I'm not old enough to be a grandma, yet."

I began to seriously worry that Oruki would overhear us. "Please be quiet."

Naru-san nodded. "Don't worry, Kyon-kun. I won't tell Oruki-kun that Haru-chan is sneaking into your room in the morning."

Man, I really hope I can believe you. Your lips have never been known for being very tight. It was at this moment that I realized that the last five minutes had been a pretty good demonstration of why I couldn't trust Naru-san to know better about how to act in front of my parents. Ignoring Haruhi's earlier warnings, I reluctantly decided to bring the subject matter up.

"Listen, Naru-san. There's something I've been wanting to say."

Naru-san tilted her head. "What is it, Kyon-kun?"

I took a deep breath. "Look, I know you're a great person, and so does everyone else that knows you. However..." I paused a bit to find the right words. "...Surely you must realize that you're a bit...eccentric, right? I mean, I know your character traits are harmless enough, but my parents don't really know you. So...if you could tone it down a bit while they're visiting, that would relieve me greatly."

Naru-san took in what I had to say. "Oh..." Her eyes then slowly narrowed. "...I see."

I was unable to respond, since I'd had never seen her act that way before.

She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "I know that I'm weird, and I always have been. I've been told by a lot of people that I should act differently, but I don't care what they have to say. If your parents are that kind of people that can't get along with someone like me, that's their problem. And here I thought that you were okay with how I was."

"I am! I am!" I said before I realized I'd made a mistake. Upsetting her was the last thing I wanted to do. "I'm sorry. Please understand tha-"

Naru-san didn't let me finish and instead walked out of the kitchen. I had no idea that she could be so sensitive. Was she going to exact her revenge on me later? Please, for the love of any and all gods in the universe, don't try anything while my parents are here. If you do that, I'll gladly accept any punishment you wish to exact upon me later.

After that abysmal failure, I decided to wait in my until I got the phone call from my parents, letting me know that they were about to arrive. About two hours later, the dreaded phone call came. After confirming the directions, I said goodbye and closed my phone. This was it. Too late to stop it now. I looked over my room one last time before I left, calling out to Haruhi to come downstairs. I had all of us gather near the door when I heard the cab pull up to the house. Everyone had polite smiles, so there was no indication that any of them were still upset. Please don't let this be a ruse!

It just as my family started knocking on the door that I was hit with a terrifying realization. My parents and little sister don't know anything about all of the supernatural stuff that I've been involved in, and I completely forgot to tell Oruki and Naru-san about that! Crap! It's too late now!

I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of my parents and my little sister. My mother was a woman in her late thirties who had short, wavy hair. She was wearing a lavender dress that I'd seen her wear on a number of previous occasions. She hasn't aged as well as Naru-san, but she definitely didn't look old. If I had to compare her looks to myself and my sister, then I'd say that my sister took after her more than I did.

On the other hand, I'd definitely say that I looked more like my dad, with a few key differences. For starters, my dad was a tiny bit shorter than me. He also wore glasses and had a decent potbelly due to a lack of exercise. He was also balding, with only a small patch of hair left in the middle of his head. He was wearing a green, short-sleeved, button-up shirt with khaki pants. I've been told by some people that I was going to look just like him when I reached my forties, but I refused to acknowledge their statements. There's no way that I'm going to be bald, dammit!

To my surprise, my sister wasn't wearing her trademark sideways ponytail and was instead leaving her hair down. She also must have had a growth spurt over the last few months as she was a little bit taller than the last time I'd seen her. I assumed that she was finally starting puberty. She was clad in a familiar blue dress that I remembered her wearing a year ago. I had wondered if my sister had grown up a bit in the time since I'd last seen her. However, I was proven wrong when the first thing she did was lunge at me and give me a hug!

"Hiya! Kyon-kun! I missed you sooooooo much!"

"I missed you, too," I said as I hugged her back. I decided not to bug her about not taking her shoes off first.

After she was done hugging me, she immediately latched onto Haruhi. "Hi hi, Haru-nyan!"

"It's good to see you, little sis!" said Haruhi as she hugged her back. I had to admit that I enjoyed the fact that the two of them got along so well.

My parent greeted me after that, and I politely bowed and introduced them to Haruhi's parents.

"I'm Naru Suzumiya. A pleasure to meet you!"

"I'm Oruki Suzumiya. Welcome to my home."

I could tell that Oruki was mildly uncomfortable being so polite. In fact, that was probably the most polite thing he's ever said since I met him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said my mother with a bow. "I hope my son hasn't been too much trouble."

"Not at all," said Naru-san. "If anything, he's been a breath of fresh air around here."

I was relieved that Naru-san had complimented me. I guess she's not mad at me anymore.

"Please excuse us for coming on such short notice," my father said.

"It's fine," said Haruhi after letting go of my sister. "It's rare that we get visitors. It's nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Haruhi Suzumiya. I've believe this is the first time we've met."

"The pleasure is all mine," said my dad. "I hope you're treating my son well."

"He's been great," she said as she grabbed my arm. I was a bit worried when she did this, but my parents didn't seem to mind.

"We also brought another visitor!" said my sister as ran behind my parents. She then pulled in a cat carrier. "Surprise!"

Haruhi looked inside and realized who is was. "Shamisen!" She immediately opened the cat carrier up and pulled out the male calico. She then gave him a nice squeeze. "How are you doing, little guy?"

"Hey there, Shamisen," I said as I patted his head. This was a bit unexpected. I don't remember my mother mentioning that he was coming along.

It was then that a strong hand grabbed onto my shoulder. I turned to find that it was Oruki, who was clearly fighting with his emotions. "Kyon-kun...can we speak briefly downstairs?"

Oh no, what's the problem now? Don't tell me that things are falling apart already?

I excused myself and followed Oruki down into the basement. The moment we both made it down, he immediately turned around and grabbed me by my shoulders.

"What the hell is that?!"

"What the hell is what?" I said.

Oruki pointed in the direction of the front door. "That! That...thing!"

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean the cat?"

"Yes! What the hell is it doing here?! You never told me they were bringing a cat!"

"I don't remember them saying anything about it. Is there a problem?"

"Yes there's a problem!" He then moved a bit closer, his eyes fully wide open. "I...HATE...CATS!"

You've got to be kidding me! "Are you allergic the them?"

"No! I just #$%ing hate them! I wish that they would all die!"

I place my hand on my face. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't care! Burn it! Bash it! Trash it! Doesn't matter! Just as long at it's not in my house!"

"I'm not harming him."

"Then leave him outside!"

"No," I said, feeling a bit annoyed. "He's a good cat. He's not going to harm anything."

Oruki gritted his teeth. "What did you say?"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I'll just leave him in my room. Is that okay?"

Oruki narrowed his eyes. "Fine! But the moment he's gone, you're cleaning your entire room from top to bottom with a toothbrush!"

"Whatever," I said as I started walking back up the stairs.

When I got back up, I noticed that Haruhi was running around the house with Shamisen on her head while my sister tried to grab his tail. Be careful, you two!

"Wait a second guys," I said. "Unfortunately, this house hasn't been made cat-proof, so we're going to have to leave Shamisen in my room."

Haruhi pouted toward me. "Aw, that's no fair."

"Poor Shami," said my sister with a frown.

"Didn't I mention that we were bringing him?" said my mother. "I'm sorry, it must've slipped my mind."

"It's fine, mom. I'm glad to see him."

"Let's play with him in Kyon's room, little sis!" said Haruhi as she bolted up the stairs. She was quickly followed by my sister, who was still trying to grab the cat's tail.

"Crisis averted," I mumbled to myself as I noticed my mother approaching me. "What up, mom?"

"As much as I love seeing you again, there's something I need to know." She then looked at me with complete seriousness. "How did you do on your exams?"

I sighed deeply. I knew she was going to ask. "I'll go get the results. They're in my room." I then reluctantly walked upstairs and into my room. When I got there, I noticed that Haruhi was rubbing Shamisen tummy while my sister used my school tie as a makeshift cat toy.

"Hey, don't let him ruin my tie!"

"He's not going to ruin it, are you Shami?" said my sister.

The cat responded by batting at my tie multiple times. I shook my head and went into my school bag to pull out my exam results.

"What are you up to, Kyon?" said Haruhi.

"My mother wanted to see how I did on my exams. I'm expecting her to be less than satisfied."

"Why is that? I thought you did pretty good considering the circumstances."

"I was hoping to do better,"

"You worry too much. You can't expect your grades to go from being average to great overnight! I'm sure your mother will understand."

"We'll see," I said as I took the results and left my room. Once I got downstairs, I handed my mother the sheet of paper. She studied it carefully before sighing. Crap, she is disappointed, isn't she?

"Actually, I'm rather relieved."

I blinked for a few seconds. "Really?"

She nodded. "To be honest, I was expecting your exams results to be even worse than usual, seeing as how you're living with your girlfriend and all."

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, she's actually been forcing me to study a lot since I moved here. She's a pretty good tutor, too."

"Thank goodness," she said as she leaned in toward me while holding her hand next to her mouth. "I guess she's a keeper after all, huh?"

I chuckled lightly. "I take it you were worried?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she said as she placed her hands on her hips. "My teenage son is living with his girlfriend. The rest of the family still don't know yet, believe it or not."

I was surprised to hear this. "Why haven't you told them?"

"Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what my mother would say if she knew I did this? She'd have a heart attack if she knew."

Come on, mom. Why do you have to hide stuff from people? I'd like you a lot more if you were a bit more honest.

"I'll tell them eventually, I swear!" said my mother. "Maybe I'll wait until you're both in college." She then looked back and forth before moving closer. "Try not to be stupid and get her pregnant, will you?"

MOM! Not you, too! Gaaaahhh!

My mother chuckled. "Still embarrassed about that stuff, huh? I take it that you haven't gotten that far, yet."

"Doesn't seem that way," came a gentle voice from behind my mother.

Both myself and my mother were startled and looked towards the voice.

"Oh, Naru-san!" I said. "I forgot you were there."

"My apologies," said Naru-san with a light bow. "You should know that Kyon-kun has been wonderful while he's been here."

My mother moved closer to her and smiled. "Thank goodness he has. I was worried that you'd kick him out eventually."

"There were times when we thought about it," said Naru-san with a giggle.

My mother took her words seriously. "Really? What did he do?"

No no, I didn't do anything, I swear!

Luckily, Naru-san allayed her fears. "No no, I was kidding!"

"Are you sure?" my mother said. "Remember that I'm his mother and that you can tell me anything."

I was worried that Naru-san was going to tell her about what I said earlier today, but it didn't happen.

"Your son is wonderful!"

My mother sighed. "Sorry. My son doesn't tell me much. He probably wouldn't have even told me he was sick if you didn't call me last week."

You're probably right, mom. Probably right.

"You know how boys are," said Naru-san. "They think they can handle everything on their own."

It was at that moment that I realized that Naru-san was acting surprisingly normal. She was even getting along with my mother. THANK GOD! A huge wave of relief came over me, and I decided to turn around and walk towards the living room. I figured that now would be a great time to let the two of them talk while I checked on my dad and Oruki.

My dad and Oruki were both sitting on the couch while a baseball game was coming on. Great! I knew that my dad wasn't much into sports, but as long as baseball was on, I knew Oruki would be on his best behavior. Excellent! Everything is going according to plan!

"The Buffaloes lost yesterday, so I'm rooting for the Giants to win today," said Oruki.

"I see," said my dad.

Perfect! Now I could walk away knowing everything is fine. I had thought about setting both Naru-san and Oruki aside to tell them that my family didn't know anything, but by now I figured that the both of them had figured it out. I went upstairs to check on Haruhi and my sister, hoping that I could hang out with them for a while.

When I entered my room, I saw that my tie was no longer undamaged thanks to my sister and the cat.

"Hey! Look at what you did to my tie!"

My sister looked at the tie and lowered her head. "Sorry, Kyon-kun."

"Don't worry about that stupid tie, Kyon," said Haruhi. "It's not like you're going to need it for a while."

"That's not the point. I'm going to need it eventually." And I was sure the school officials were not so lenient as to let me go to class with a ripped-up tie.

"You can just buy a new one later."

"I'm not paying for it."

"I'll pay for it!" said my little sister. She then got off of the bed and pulled out a small pocketbook from her pocket. After opening it, she pulled out a 500 yen coin and handed it to me. "Fair is fair!"

I was so touched by her behavior that I couldn't bring myself to tell her that my tie probably cost around 2000 yen. "Looks like someone has done a lot of growing up since they left."

After my sister giggled, Haruhi came up from behind and gave her a hug.

"You don't know the half of it! Guess who is going to create a new branch of the SOS Brigade after summer break is over!"

"Me! I am!" said my sister as she jumped in the air.

"Great," I said while forcing a smile. Creating a branch of the SOS Brigade was not an action that resembled maturity, but I didn't want to rain on her parade. I was happy to see that she was happy.

"I better make you an armband if you're going to do that," said Haruhi while stroking her chin. "Unfortunately, I'm fresh out of armbands."

"That's okay! I made my own!" My sister then frowned. "I forgot to bring it, though."

"That's great, imoto-chan! By making one yourself, you're already proving to me that you have the motivation needed to lead the first branch of the SOS Brigade!" She then frowned at me. "If only your brother had half as much motivation."

Well, forgive me for having common sense.

Haruhi continued talking to my sister. "If you're going to be leading the first branch, then you're going to need to know the following top secret information, okay?"

"Ooo! Top secret information! Tell me! Tell me, Haru-nyan!"

Haruhi looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "Not until a certain someone leaves."

"Hey, why can't I hear this secret information?"

Haruhi turned away from me. "This information is too important for ordinary members to hear."

"Yeah, Kyon-kun! Shoo! Shoo!"

Great! Now even my sister outranks me! I narrowed my eyes at the both of them, feeling pretty left out. However, when I saw a wink from Haruhi, I realized that it was probably best just to play along. Maybe later she'll tell me what the "secret information" was.

"Fine, fine. I'll go," I said as I opened the door. "Just make sure to listen to Haruhi, okay?"

"Okay!" she said as jumped onto my bed next to Haruhi.

"Later, Kyon!"

It was after I closed the door that I realized how dumb saying something like "listen to Haruhi" was. I sincerely hoped that she doesn't teach my sister how to blackmail people. The last thing I need to hear that my sister has gotten suspended.

Seeing as I was temporarily banned from my own room, I decided to walk downstairs to see how my parents were getting along with Naru-san and Oruki. When I looked in the living room, I saw that the two guys were still getting along fine. Good. I then looked in the kitchen to see if the same was true for the two women.

That's when the trouble started.

I noticed that my mother's eyes were very wide and she had one eyebrow raised. It didn't take me long to realize why.

"And then this giant tentacle came down and almost squished the esper, but he turned into a red ball thingy and dodged it!"

CRAP! What are you doing, Naru-san?! I didn't wait for her to finish the story. I ran behind her and place a hand on her mouth.

"She's just kidding around. None of what she just said actually happened."

"I see," said my mother, who was now giving me a strange look.

"Naru-san, I need to talk to you privately for a minute. Can you follow me downstairs?"

Naru-san removed my hand and smiled brightly. "Oh! You want me to come down to the basement? Yay! It's finally my turn!"

I ignored her excitement at turned towards the living room. "Oruki-san! Can you hear me?"

"What?!" I heard before his head popped out of around the corner. "I'm watching the game! Can it wait?"

I shook my head and pointed towards the basement door.

"Aw, he's coming, too?" said Naru-san with a frown. "And here I thought I was going to be special."

Oruki rolled his eyes and started walking towards the door to the basement. "This better be important."

I opened the door and let the two walk down the stairs. Just before I could follow them, my mother poked me on the shoulder.

"Is everything okay?" she said, obviously very worried.

"It's fine, mom," I said as I closed the door before walking downstairs.

When I got to the bottom, Oruki and Naru-san stood there waiting for me to talk.

"Guys, there's something you need to know. My parents don't know anything about the...supernatural stuff."

Oruki rolled his eyes again. "That was it?"

"They don't know?" said Naru-san.

Oruki looked at his wife with disbelief. "Of course they don't know!"

"You already knew?" I said. "How?"

"If they knew that their son was battling alien monsters and crap, there's no way in hell that they would move up north and leave their kid behind."

Good point. Why didn't I think of that?

"Good point," said Naru-san. "Why didn't I think of that?"

...Don't do that again!

"Are we done now?" said Oruki.

"Yeah," I said, feeling both embarrassed and relieved. My instincts were right to believe Oruki would figure that much out. I should have left him alone.

After the three of us came out of the basement, I approached my mother. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to clarify with them on some things."

My mother was still confused. "Oh, it's fine...was there something wrong?"

"God dammit!" came a voice coming from the living room. Oruki popped his head out briefly. "Thanks to you, I missed a run scored by the Giants!"

Thanks, Oruki. This situation wasn't awkward enough.

After he was out of sight, I turned back to my mother. "Again...sorry. I just wanted to let you know that whole story that Naru-san was talking about was all a computer game that me and my friends were playing together."

"Ooohhh," said my mother. "That makes sense. So she was watching you play it?"

"Yes," said Naru-san, trying her best to play along. "I was watching Kyon-kun... while he played a computer game."

"Exactly," I said. "It was a well known MMORPG."

My mother nodded. "And I take it that your friends were playing as an alien and an esper, right?"

"Correct!" I said.

"That makes sense," said my mother before turning toward Naru-san. "I was wondering what you were talking about."

"My apologies," said Naru-san. "I must have forgotten to mention that detail...heh..."

Yes, crisis averted!

Naru-san smiled and pointed towards the back door. "Care to follow me outside? I have something to show you."

"I would love to," said my mother as she got up to follow Naru-san out the door.

Feeling a lot better about the situation, I left the kitchen and went into the living room to watch some baseball with my dad and Oruki.

"Yes!" said Oruki with with fist in the air. "Another run for the Giants!"

The game they were watching was between the Yomiuri Giants and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. It was the third inning, and the Giants were winning four to nothing.

"You think they'll win the championship?" I said as I sat in between them.

"Too early to tell. They better at least get ahead of the Dragons. I'm sick of them winning so damn much."

"I see," I said as I started watching the game. "You doing alright, dad?"

"I'm fine," he said, looking a little bored.

The next fifteen minutes went by without any problems. The Giants scored two more runs in the fourth inning, and there were no runs in the fifth. While Oruki was glued to the screen the whole time, I noticed my father regularly checking his watch. He was being as polite as he could, but eventually he decided to speak up.

"So tell me, Oruki-san. How has it been taking care of my son?"

Since the game was slow at the moment, Oruki turned to answer the question. "He's a good kid. Works hard. Treats my daughter well. He's not the smartest, but he and his friends have some...interesting pastimes."

"Pastimes?" said my father.

"You don't know about the club that my daughter and your son run?"

Wait a minute. Why are you bringing the club up? "My dad knows about the club."

Oruki raised his hand in an attempt to alleviate my fears. "Did you know that they solve mysteries and stuff?"

My father looked at me weirdly. "Isn't that the SOS something or other your sister was bragging about?"

"Oh, so you really didn't hide it from them," said Oruki.

"You didn't know?" said my father.

"My daughter lied to me and told me that she was in the Literary Club," said Oruki bitterly.

"Oh really, why would she do that?"

I wanted to jump into the conversation, but I didn't know where I could add anything. I only hoped that Oruki wouldn't say anything that would get me into trouble.

"I don't know. Probably thought I wouldn't approve of her club if I knew about it, and when I did find out, I almost pulled her out of it."

"We had to prove ourselves first," I said, relieved to get a word in. "Luckily, we had that mystery involving a local grocery store not too long ago!"

My father raised an eyebrow. "You never told me about this."

"Now's a great time!" I said as I stood up. "However, Haruhi would probably tell the story better than I could. I'll go get her!"

"Can it wait?" said Oruki, pointing at the TV.

"The Giants are way ahead anyway. I promise this won't take too long." I was hoping to alleviate my dad's boredom.

Oruki sighed. "Sure, whatever."

"Thanks!" I said as I left the living room and bolted upstairs. When I opened the door to my room, I was surprised to find that it was empty. I then went in front of door to Haruhi's room, knocking politely.

"You in there?"

"Come in!" said a both voices inside.

I opened the door to find my sister and my girlfriend both applying make-up to Shamisen. "What's going on?"

"Your sister wanted an opportunity to practice applying costume make-up, so we decided to use Shamisen as a guinea pig!"

"Isn't Shami pretty?" My sister them picked up the cat and showed him to me. His face was a mess of lipstick, eyeliner, and some other cosmetics. Poor guy. This must count as animal cruelty.

It took me a moment to respond. "Um...let's leave the cat alone for now and come downstairs. I was hoping that you could relate the details involving our most recent solved mystery."

Haruhi's eyes lit up. "Your parents want to listen to the exploits of the SOS Brigade?"

"Uh, well...I guess I could go get my mother so she can listen, too."

Haruhi didn't hesitate a second. In fact, she was out of her room before I was, my sister right on her heels.

"I want to hear about the mystery you guys solved! Tell me! Tell me!"

I sighed for a moment before putting my cat back in my room and following them downstairs. While Haruhi and my sister went into the living room, I went for the back door to get my mother and Naru-san.

When I found them outside, I noticed that Naru-san was showing my mother her carnivorous plant garden.

"The pitcher plants are some of my favorite," said Naru-san. "Look inside."

My mother looked inside, and the grimace on her face removed any doubt that she saw a lot of dead bugs inside.

"It's disgusting," said my mother as she turned away.

"It is, isn't it?" said Naru-san, oblivious to my mother's reaction.

I realized immediately that my mother was probably getting the wrong idea, so I decided to come to Naru-san's defense.

"The best part about all these plants is that it reduces the amount of bugs we have to deal with around the house."

"Exactly!" said Naru-san. "I love my garden! It's both interesting and useful!"

"Hmm. I see," said my mother. "I didn't think about it that way."

It was then that the back door opened, revealing the impatient face of my girlfriend. "What's taking so long, Kyon? Did you tell them to come inside?"

"S-sorry," I said before turning to my mother. "Haruhi wanted to tell you and dad the story of how our club saved a local grocery store."

Naru-san became excited! "Is that the one that had all the produce that was rotting?"

"Yep."

"Goody!" said Naru-san as she turned to my mother. "It's a great story. You really should listen to it."

"I'll be in the living room!" said Haruhi. "Don't wait up!"

My mother agreed and quickly went inside, perhaps largely to get away from the plants. Naru-san and I followed her into the living room. When we got there, I saw Haruhi standing dramatically in the middle of the room, waiting for everyone to be seated. There wasn't enough room on the couch for everyone, so my sister and I had the honor of sitting on the floor. I looked at Oruki, who was giving me a somewhat nasty look. Hey, you brought this up. If you didn't want to miss out on the game, you should have kept your mouth shut.

After everyone was settled, Haruhi began her amazing tale on how the SOS Brigade overcame one of it's biggest trials ever. She started her tale at on the day that her parents found out the truth about the SOS Brigade. Details were given on the brutal interrogation her father gave to me, and how he manipulated me into telling the "truth". Honestly, she made it all sound like it was some kind of high stakes murder trial, and I was the witness being drilled by a seasoned prosecuting attorney. She then moved onto how her father banned her from her club, and I was the only one brave enough to stand up for his Brigade Leader and her Brigade, omitting the detail that Oruki beat the crap out of me that night.

"So romantic!" said Naru-san's

"Did you really do that?" said my sister.

"Yep." I said with a bit of satisfaction.

"I'll never forget what he said that night," said Haruhi. "After my dad said something to him, I heard him scream at the top of his lungs 'I'm doing this because I'm a Brigade member! And Haruhi is my Brigade Chief!'"

Everyone laughed at the corny statement, except for Oruki, who instead was turning away to hide his face.

"I can't believe I said that."

"I was actually really touched," said Haruhi, looking at me affectionately.

I was too embarrassed to look at anyone, even my sister, although I was able to hear her giggling next to me.

Haruhi continued the story, stating that thanks to my heroics, we were given a second chance. We had to prove that the club was doing good for people by solving a mystery in front of them. There was only one problem. We didn't have a mystery to solve at the time.

"What did you do?" said my little sister.

"Well, at first I couldn't do anything, but luckily..."

"Luckily, we had a back-up plan," I said.

Haruhi was surprised that I admitted that. "Oh...um, that was true. You told me that Koizumi was trying to put together a fake mystery, but that was meant to be a last ditch resort."

"Wait a minute!" said Oruki angrily before he stopped himself. He went into what appeared to be deep thought before he turned away with a grunt. "Never mind."

Haruhi continued. "Fortunately, we didn't have to go with that, since a real mystery appeared just in the nick-of-time. His name was Kiyosumi Morimura."

Haruhi then went into the details involving the mystery, including how all of the poor man's produce had started to rapidly rot for no obvious reason.

"The SOS Brigade searched the place high and low, trying to find out the hidden cause of what was rotting the produce. We even went as far as checking out his supplier, but that was a dead end. Do you know what the real cause was?"

"A giant eldritch abomination that was hiding in the store room the whole time," I said.

I heard some laughter from Naru-san and my sister, followed my a snort from Oruki.

"Kyon!" said Haruhi. "Stop interrupting and ruining the story!"

"Sorry," I said with a chuckle.

Haruhi cleared her throat and finished the story. "It turned out that the owner accidentally mixed two different cleaners together, and the resulting chemical reaction caused all the produce to rot. I thought it was strange, but sure enough when he stopped using those cleaners, the problem went away."

"So you saved the man his livelihood," said my father. "That's quite commendable, especially for people your age."

"That's only the start of what we plan on doing in the future," said Haruhi. "However, the truth be told is that I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for the help of a certain someone." She looked at me again before looking at my parents. She then gave a light bow. "Thank you so much for letting him stay. I know it's been hard on you guys having to pay for his expenses."

"It's quite alright," said my dad.

"After hearing that story," said my mom while looking at me. "I know now that I did the right thing convincing my husband to let you stay here. I'm so happy to hear that you and your friends are doing a lot of good."

It was then that Oruki stood up. "I need to go out for a bit."

"Are you okay, Oruki-kun?" said Naru-san.

"I'm fine," he said as he made his way out of the living room. He then put his shoes on and went out the door. Shortly afterward, I heard the car starting before it pulled out of the driveway and left.

"We didn't offend him, did we?" said my dad.

"It's fine," I said. "He's not good with people, so sometimes he needs to get away." Although I was worried that his temper might be getting the better of him.

"I better start getting supper ready," said Naru-san as she stood up.

"Would you like some help?" asked my mother.

"No, it's quite alright. You're my guest. However, if you'd like to keep me company while I cook, that would be wonderful!"

"Of course!" said my mother as she got up to follow Naru-san into the kitchen.

I was about to sit next to my dad and watch some TV when I felt my collar being pulled on with a great deal of force.

"I need to talk to you for a minute," said Haruhi as she dragged me upstairs. At first, I was hoping that maybe she was dragging me to up there for an unplanned make-out session, but I was disappointed when after we entered my room, she instead made an announcement. "I want to keep Shamisen."

I blinked for a second. "Wait...what?"

"Seeing Shamisen again made me realize that I really want to keep him. Don't you?"

I looked at my cat, who by now had managed to clean off most of the make-up by licking his paws and rubbing them on this face. I so hope that stuff is non-toxic. "Well, I'm not against the idea, but there are two really big problems with that."

"I know, I know. My dad hates cats, and your sister probably wouldn't want to give him up, right?"

Well...that was convenient...

"I don't see what the big deal is anyway. I mean, isn't it technically your cat?"

"It used to be, but I'm pretty sure my sister has unofficially adopted him."

"Hmm... If only we could convince her and my dad to let him stay. I could really use him."

It was then that I figured out what was going on. "Wait a minute, you're trying to keep him here so you can use him for the movie, aren't you?"

"Of course!" said Haruhi with no shame at all. "Yuki-chan needs him to play the role of her familiar, and I'd hate to have to go through the trouble of finding another cat to replace him."

And here I thought you wanted him to stay because you enjoy his company.

"Well, it's not like I wouldn't enjoy having him around, too. I mean, he's a great cat, you know?"

True, but none of that matters if your dad or my sister don't agree to this.

Haruhi continued to think while pacing around in my room. "What could I say to convince those two to let him stay?"

We could say 'Please'?

"You're not helping, Kyon!"

I rolled my eyes. "How long are we going to keep him? He can't stay forever, can he?"

"That's it!" said Haruhi, her face beaming. "We only need him for a month! Maybe if we tell them that, they'll both give in!"

"Great. Then I'll go convince my sister while you convince your dad."

"Hmm, it might be better if you convince my dad while I handle your sister."

"Why's that?"

"You have a way with my dad. For some reason, he listens to you more than he does to me. I wish I knew what your secret was."

That's easy. I just tell him that if he doesn't do what you want, the universe will end.

"Quit kidding around, Kyon! Just convince him to let Shamisen stay, okay?"

"Fine, fine," I said as I opened the door to my room. "Hope he comes back soon."

I went downstairs and into the living room. I figured that I'd hang out with my dad while I waited for Oruki to come back. Honestly, a small part of me hoped he wouldn't come back, at least not until AFTER my parents left. Still, I did like the idea of having my cat back, even if it was only for a little while.

While watching TV with my dad for a while (he changed the channel after Oruki left), I overheard my mother and my little sister talking to Naru-san.

"What are we eating?" said my sister.

"Oh, I was just going to make some donburi," said Naru-san.

"Aw," said my sister. "That sounds boring."

"Don't be rude!" said my mother. "My apologies."

"It's alright. I was much worse when I was her age. I used to love to hang out in graveyards. I think I scared my parents a lot."

My sister gasped in excitement. "Did you ever see a ghost?"

"Maybe."

I could tell from my mother's silence that she was feeling awkward. I know I would.

It was at that moment that I heard Haruhi's voice. "Hey, little sis! Can you come here?"

"Okay!" she said as she ran upstairs.

The door opened after that, signaling the return of Oruki. When I saw him, I noticed that he was carrying a case of beer. He took one out of the container and looked at my dad.

"You want one?"

My father thought about it. "I normally don't drink, but sure."

Oruki handed him a beer before grabbing another one. He was about to hand me that one before he clearly remembered that I was still underaged. He instead placed it on the table close to wear he normally sat.

"Be right back."

He then carried the remainder of the beer into the kitchen.

"Oh, you bought beer," said Naru-san. "I thought tha-"

"Don't worry about it!"

Great! Oruki is still in a bad mood. That'll make things easier...

I waited until he came back into the living room before I spoke to him. "Oruki-san, can I talk to you downstairs?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What is it now?"

"Just follow me," I said as I got up and made my way towards the basement door. I heard a groan behind me, but I ignored it.

When the both of us were in the basement, Oruki spoke up. "Just tell me what this is about."

"It's about the cat..."

"No!" he said as he moved towards the stairs.

"Wait! You didn't let me finish!"

"Don't care! That cat is not staying here another day!"

"Haruhi needs her for something important!"

" #$% you! I don't care!"

Keep you voice down! No doubt that everyone can hear you! "You know what happens when your daughter gets upset!"

"Screw the universe! I won't have a cat in my house!" He then started walking up the stairs.

In desperation, I grabbed him by the ankle. "Will you please hear me out? We only need him here for a month!"

"Let go of me!"

"I promise I'll make sure he won't leave my room! I swear!"

Oruki stopped resisting me, choosing instead to place both hands on his face before pulling on his hair. After taking a deep breath, he looked at me one last time. "You know what? It doesn't even matter anymore. I give up! Do whatever you want!" He then marched up the stairs and out of the basement.

I pondered for a second as to what he meant by what he said, I but gave up when I realized that I'd succeeded. It was almost too easy.

When I exited the basement, I was approached by my mother. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine. I was asking if it would be okay if the cat stayed here for a month. I kinda miss him."

"He was yelling over that?"

"He...really doesn't like cats, apparently, but it's okay. He gave permission."

"Didn't sound like it," she said with a sigh. "I'm fine with it, but I'm sure that your little sister might be a bit upset if she found out if the cat is staying."

"Haruhi is talking to her right no-"

"No! Nononononono! I won't let you take Shami!"

The next thing I saw was my sister as she ran downstairs and out the front door. She was carrying Shamisen along with her.

Haruhi was chasing after her, but stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Wait! Oh, never mind."

"So much for that," I said as I approached Haruhi. "Didn't go well, huh?"

"Nope," she said while staring at the door. "Looks like this isn't going to work after all."

"I figured this would happen. She's always been pretty attached to him."

"What did my dad say?"

"He...reluctantly agreed."

"Well, that's half the battle." She then looked into the living room. "Thank you, daddy!"

Oruki didn't respond. I noticed that the TV was still on the channel my father was watching, so I suspected that he was even more annoyed. Man, I hope he doesn't blow up in front of my family. I could tell that my father was getting very uncomfortable around him but was too polite to say anything.

I looked back at Haruhi. "I'll go talk to my sister."

"Okay. Good luck."

I walked out the door to find my sister sitting next to the road, still holding onto the cat. I decided to approach quietly, waiting until I was almost right next to her to speak up.

"Went out for some fresh air?"

She didn't turn to look at me. "No."

"It's only going to be for a month. It's not that long."

"I don't want to." She then held onto Shamisen even tighter.

"Did Haruhi tell you that we're going to film the sequel to our movie? We could really use Shamisen's help."

My sister was quiet for a while. I took the opportunity to sit right next to her.

"It's not fair," she said.

"What's not fair?"

I saw her tearing up. "I hate it up north."

"Why's that?"

"I don't have any friends up there. Shami is the only friend I have."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What about your cousin?"

"Most of them are either too young or too old."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said, feeling a little dismayed. "Didn't you go to school up there for a few months?"

"I did, but everybody was mean." She then pointed at her head. "They made fun of my hair when I wore that ponytail on the side like I used to."

"Kids can be real jerks." I certainly have had to deal with my fair share of childhood cruelty. "So what happened to you starting a branch of the SOS Brigade at your school?"

"Still want to do that because I know Haru-nyan made lots of friends because of it, but I'm kinda scared. What if it doesn't work?"

"You could learn a lot from Haruhi. Failure has never stopped her before."

"Haru-nyan is really brave and smart and cool. I'm not any of those things."

"Sure you are. Trust me. Haruhi would not allow you to create a branch of the SOS Brigade if she didn't think you could do it."

"What if doesn't work? If you have Shami, then I'll be all alone."

"Didn't you hear me? I told you we only need him for a month. After that, I'll bring him right back."

My sister turned to look at me. "You promise?"

"Absolutely! And if you get lonely during the month that he's gone, you can always give me a call. I'll even let Shamisen say hello."

She giggled a bit before wiping her tears. "Thank you, Kyon-kun."

I'd be nice if you called me your big brother for a change. I really do miss that.

My sister handed me the cat. "Now you be good while your here, okay Shami?"

"Okay!" I said, pretending to speak for my cat.

After hearing my sister laugh, we decided to go back inside. After I brought my cat back to my room, I heard the announcement from Naru-san that dinner was ready. A minute later, everyone was gathered in the dining room.

"Sorry we weren't able to make something nicer to eat," said Naru-san.

"It's quite alright," said my father. "We did come on fairly short notice."

My sister poked Haruhi on the shoulder. "I wanted to let you know that it's okay if Shami stays here for a month, okay?"

Haruhi looked at me and smiled. "Thank you very much. I promise that we'll take good care of him."

I heard Oruki grumble from across the table.

"You okay?" I said.

"I'm fine," he said before taking a swig of beer.

I need to find out what's wrong with him. I'm sure it's more than just the cat.

My sister leaned in towards Haruhi's ear, although she was still loud enough for me to hear. "If you get married to Kyon-kun, does that make you my sister?"

I could tell that everyone else heard her, too, so I decided to save Haruhi the embarrassment of answering the question. "I think we have a lot we need to do first before we worry about marriage."

"You got that right," said Oruki under his breath.

"The innocence of youth," said Naru-san. "I miss being that young."

Some would say that you've never grown up.

Perhaps to change the subject, my mother decided to talk to me. "By the way, the rest of your family would love to see you over the summer. When are you planning to come up?"

"Since I have to return Shamisen in a month, I guess I could come down then."

"Wonderful. We'll make sure you have tickets to the train soon, okay?"

I paused for a moment. "When will I be coming back?"

"Well, a week should be good, right?" said my mother.

I was hesitant to respond. I knew that I needed as many days as possible to complete all the nightmarish tasks we had to deal with. "Um...well, I'm going to be really busy over the summer with my club an-"

"Ooohhh," said my mother as she quickly looked at Haruhi. "I understand."

I think she has the wrong idea. "It's not what you think. I'm really am going to be busy."

"He doesn't have to stay a week if he doesn't want to," said my dad.

"It's fine, sir," said Haruhi before looking at me. "You don't have to worry. Go spend a week with your family."

I was surprised to hear my girlfriend say that. Normally, she'd never let anything get in the way of Brigade activities. Does she not realize that we barely have enough time to do the things we need to do anyway?

"It's settled then," said my mom. "We'll see you again in one month."

Great. Now I have even less time to get things done. What else could go wrong?

Fortunately, the rest of dinner went by without any problems, and before long, Haruhi and I were cleaning up the dishes. After that, my family decided that it was time to head out, as the taxi had been called while I was cleaning up. I was extremely relieved that the whole ordeal was over, and while the Suzumiyas weren't perfect, it wasn't quite the disaster I feared it would be.

After my sister said goodbye to the cat, I went outside with my family to bid them farewell and give everyone a good hug.

"I'll miss you guys," I said.

"We'll miss you, too," said my mom. "You live with a...pretty eccentric family, don't you?"

You don't know the half of it. "I know they didn't give the best first impression, but they're good people."

"Are you sure we didn't offend Mr. Suzumiya?" said my father.

"No. I'm pretty sure something else is bothering him."

My sister held up her pinky. "Pinky swear that you'll take good take of Shami, okay?"

"Of course," I said as we pinky-sweared. I then looked at my dad. "Speaking of which...I need a favor."

"What is it, son?"

I was a bit embarrassed to ask. "I'm sorry to do this, but I need to buy some cat supplies now that Shamisen will be staying with me, plus I might need a little money for some other things and-"

"I figured as much," said my father as he pulled out his wallet. He then pulled out five 2000 yen bills. "Is that enough?"

"Thank you," I said as I graciously took the money. "I really appreciate it."

"Consider it a reward for your good behavior while we were gone."

"Promise me that you'll keep improving your grades when you start school again, okay?" said my mom.

"I will."

"Bye, Kyon-kun!" said my sister as everyone walked towards the taxi. "Tell Shami and Haru-nyan that I love them!"

"I will!" I said as I waved goodbye.

I stood outside until the taxi they entered left my sight. With them gone, I went back inside to relax and unwind for a bit. I found Oruki passed out on the couch, and Naru-san was next to him watching TV.

"Tough day for him, huh?" I said.

"He's never been good around new people. The stress must've tired him out."

That and the beer probably didn't help.

"I'll be upstairs for a while," I said as I turned towards the stairs.

"Okay."

After that, I made my way into my room. Seeing my cat relaxing on my bed brought back some warm memories. I was about to lay right next to him when I realized that he didn't even have a litter box yet. Great. Now I have to go back out. I sighed as I turned around to go out, but before I could, I heard a knock on my window. I turned to see that it was Haruhi, who was pointing towards her room. Ah, she must want me to meet her on the roof. I immediately went into her room and made my way up there.

"Hell of a day, huh?" I said as I took a seat next to her.

"It wasn't so bad. I had a lot of fun with your sister."

"I could tell. I spent most of my time trying to make sure my parents were okay."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "I noticed."

"Hey, you were right. The day didn't end in disaster." Thanks in part to my quick thinking.

"I told you it wouldn't."

"Well, in my defense, there were a few close calls, especially your dad. I thought he'd blow a fuse for sure."

"I can believe that. He like some kind of antisocial troll or something."

I laughed. "That fits him perfectly."

"It does, doesn't it?" she said before she began to pout a bit. "I can't believe you were able to talk your sister into letting Shamisen stay, and I couldn't."

"She was just lonely. She hasn't made any friends up north, yet."

"I'm surprised to hear that, considering how she wanted to create a new branch of the SOS Brigade and everything."

"She was hoping that the club would help her make friends."

"Aw," she said with a frown. "Now I feel bad for taking the cat."

"She'll be fine," I said before remembering something. "By the way, what tips did you give to my sister?"

Haruhi giggled. "Oh, I was just giving her advice on how to recruit people."

"You didn't suggest that she kidnap people, did you?"

"Well, some people need more motivation than others."

Please tell me you're joking. You're going to get my sister in trouble!

"She'll be fine. I didn't get in trouble for it."

"That's because...never mind." It would be impossible to explain to her why she's gotten away with so much without revealing top secret information. After sighing deeply, I decided to change the subject. "About the next month, do you really think we can get everything ready before I have to leave?"

"We'll be fine," she said with a smile. "I know it seems like a lot, but since we won't have school in the way, we'll have all the time we need."

"I sure hope so. I still wish we could spend some more time together, just the two of us."

"Well, are you doing anything now?" She then moved closer to me and gently grabbed my hand.

"Not right away, I guess." We then moved closer and closer until we were able to kiss.

We made out together for a while, our passions growing with every minute. I didn't even care that we were technically outside where everyone could see us. Eventually, I started to move past first base and onto second.

"Slow down a bit, okay?" said Haruhi. "People might call the police."

"You're right," I said as I grabbed her hand. "Let go into your room."

"But...what about my parents?"

"Your dad is asleep, and I don't think your mother cares."

"Oh," she said as we made our way back in through the window. "Good."

Before long, we were both on her bed, continuing where we left off. It wasn't long before I was starting to reach under her clothing.

"Remember not to go too far," she said. "We still have a promise to keep."

"Forget the promise," I said as I kissed her neck.

"Wait...what?" she said, her tone obviously changing.

"Forget it. It was a dumb idea." I then tried to kiss her again.

Unfortunately, her fist collided with my cheek, and I was knocked out of the bed and onto the floor.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"Idiot!" she screamed. She stood above me with clenched fists; her face was red with anger. "What kind of a man breaks his promises that easily?! Get out!"

"Hold on a sec-"

"OUT!" she said as she kicked me in the butt.

"Ow! Fine!" I said as escaped from her room. What the hell was her problem?

Upset over what had just happened, I decided to leave the house to go somewhere else.

As I made my way down the stairs, I was confronted my Naru-san. "What happened, Kyon-kun?"

"Nothing," I said as I went into the garage to get my bike. "I'm heading out!"

A minute later, I was on my bike, heading as far away from the house as I could. I decided to go to the convenience store to pick up the cat supplies I needed to get anyway. On my way back, though, I began to calm down, and I started to realize that I had made a mistake and acted like an idiot. She was right. I gave into my hormones way too easily. How could I be so stupid? She'll probably be mad at me all day tomorrow. Great...

I was feeling pretty awful by the time I got back, and after I set up my cat's litter box, food bowl and water bowl, I knew I'd had enough of the day. I laid down to go to sleep, but an awful realization hit me during the middle of the night.

This was only the first day of summer.

At this rate, this was going to be the longest summer of my life (if you don't count the final two weeks of last summer). To make matters worse, it wasn't until it was the middle of the night that I finally fell asleep.

Man, this sucked.

* * *

**Author's notes: I hope this chapter was on par with my previous works. If you see any typos, feel free to point them out so I can correct them. The truth of the matter is that I'm a pretty crappy proof reader, and I could really use an extra hand finding typos.**

**If your interested in being a beta-reader for me, send me a PM. I do plan on testing those who volunteer, as I need to make sure my beta-reader is the best I can get. Only one of you will get the job, so make sure you're really committed. The best part is that you'll always get a sneak preview of each chapter. Isn't that great!**

**Anyway, I hope enough of my readers are still out there. I want to try and revitalize the community, as I've noticed that things have been drying up with the lack of a third season of the anime. However, I still think that there is enough fans out there to bring some life back here, and I hope my fanfic encourages you to do some more writing!**

**Have a great day, guys!**


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